


Danganronpa: Heroes of Despair

by That_crossover_guy



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Class Trials (Dangan Ronpa), Crossover, Fan Killing Game (Dangan Ronpa), Multi, Murder, Murder Mystery, Supportive Class 1-B (My Hero Academia)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:41:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 29,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27696424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/That_crossover_guy/pseuds/That_crossover_guy
Summary: It was supposed to be a fun field-trip for Class 1-B. However, what they got instead was far worse than they could've ever imagined. Trapped in an abandoned university campus, it is up to Class 1-B to try and escape the campus. However, there is just one issue, a crazy half black half white bear is forcing them to kill each other. This will truly be the hardest villain they have ever had to take down in their lives...
Relationships: Fukidashi Manga/Yanagi Reiko, Kendou Itsuka/Monoma Neito, Komori Kinoko/Kuroiro Shihai, Shiozaki Ibara/Tsuburaba Kousei, Tokage Setsuna/Tsunotori Pony
Comments: 5
Kudos: 23





	1. Prologue - 1: Heroes of despair

In a dark secluded room, deep within a mansion’s basement, a person covered in shadows sat utterly still; staring at a computer screen. Their red eyes stared into the monitor with malicious intent. Their long blueish grey hair rested gently on their shoulders as a small smirk came upon their face. Resting back in their chair, they clapped their hands together, alerting someone else hiding in the shadows.

“It’s ready… How about we start with the two hero courses, hmm?” The person said as the thing that was called over laughed. An unsettling mixture of a laugh and a howl echoed in the small cramped room, causing the person in the shadows some form of discomfort.

“I cannot WAIT~! to see the look of pure anger and despair on cousin Nedzu’s face! He left me in that lab for years… I think it's time to repay him for his generosity… Puhuhuhu.” The creature said, a mixture of anger and joy in the creature's tone. A red, ominous thunderbolt shaped light glowed in the dark, illuminating a space beside it, revealing the mutilated corpse of the number 29th pro hero, Vlad King.

.

.

.

On that day, the day when we let our guards down… on the day we were supposed to feel some form of hope… we were met with one of the most despairing situations, one could ever think of. That day… we felt… **True Despair.**

Prologue – 1: Heroes of Despair 

The sun crept through the blinds of class 1-B’s dormitory living room. Dust particles floated around the room as someone laid wrapped up in a blanket on the couch. Their long orange hair draped off the side of the couch as the blanket rustled with movement. The person underneath the blanket slowly rose up, revealing their pale skin to the humid sunlight, their teal eyes glistening from the moisture in their eyes as they propped one arm up onto the back of the couch.

Throwing the blanket off them and further down to the edge of the couch, the now revealed to be female student stood up, stretching her arms out vertically towards the roof, their white tank-top scrunching up due to the pull of gravity; exposing their mid-torso. Their black shorts outstretched lower down their waist before returning back to normal once she was done stretching.

A soft yawn escaped the girl's dry lips as she covered her mouth. She rubbed the sleep away from her eyes as she rolled her shoulders, allowing her upper muscles to relax. As she finished her daily routine of waking up and stretching, she walked to the bathroom and knocked on the door. After not hearing a single reply, she opened the door and walked inside, glancing into the mirror before letting out another soft yawn.

Her hair was a mess, and she needed to fix it. After all, today was the day that class 1-B was going on a field trip. How could their class representative look like a slob on a day like that? The answer was that she couldn’t, she had to look her best. Grabbing a wooden hair-brush, she began to brush back her long orange locks to make herself seem more presentable. As she finished brushing her hair, she looked back into the mirror and smiled.

Taking her toothbrush out from the holder it was in, located just beside the lip of the sink, she opened up the mirror cabinet and grabbed her toothpaste. Popping the cap open, she put the toothpaste onto the toothbrush, then she put away the tube of toothpaste before closing the mirror cabinet, only to be greeted by a half floating face behind her.

“GAH!!!” The orange-haired female screamed as the rest of Setsuna came into the bathroom. The titular girl had long green hair, dark green eyes, pale white skin, and a lizard onesie on. A smug, yet tired smirk appeared on her face as she giggled, wiping a small tear from her eye.

“You should’ve seen the look on your face Kendo-san. You were absolutely terrified! I would’ve given myself away had it not been for the fact that I kept my mouth attached to the rest of my body.” Setsuna said, a wide smile appearing on her face as ‘Kendo’ sighed. The orange-haired girl’s name was Itsuka Kendo. She was class 1-B’s class president and representative. She had been selected by her class as the representative since the beginning of the year, and now, after nearly a full year of being in the position, she had finally gotten used to all the responsibilities of being the class representative.

“So~! You’re not gonna be all uptight and strict like the last time I pranked you, or are you gonna loosen up a little?” Setsuna asked in a teasing tone as Itsuka let out a deep sigh. She was known for being strict on Setsuna for her pranks, notably during the one time where she had accidentally scared the life out of Class 1-A’s collective daughter, Eri, during a Halloween party. After that mess, Itsuka had been on Setsuna’s case for every prank she pulled, successful or unsuccessful.

“Look… not today since today is an off day, but please, next time, be a bit more spatially aware, and also, not when I first wake up Tokage-san…” Itsuka said groggily, only to receive a snicker out of Setsuna, showing that she didn’t care, nor was she intending to listen, like always. At least she was able to keep the mood light and cheerful; especially after the war with the villains. Hero society had been torn down and forced to lessen its stranglehold due to the trust of heroes being torn asunder by the paranormal liberation front.

“Well, regardless, I think you needed a bit of a jolt this morning, don’t forget, you’re leading us outside since Vlad King is already there. The bus is already waiting out front, and everyone is starting to wake up… so don’t take your sweet time, ok?” Setsuna asked, again with a smug smirk dressing her face. Itsuka sighed as she began to brush her teeth, leaving Setsuna to her business.

They were supposedly going to one of the ‘normal schools’ to start regaining trust in-hero society again, starting one school at a time. However, Itsuka did find it bizarre that Vlad King never said anything about the place, more that it was just a field trip. It made Itsuka uneasy at how vague Vlad King was being, but it made sense that he wanted to keep it a secret, after all, it was part of his personality.

Once Itsuka was done brushing her teeth, she spat out the used toothpaste into the sink and rinsed her mouth out with mouth wash. Sipping back the clear liquid, she swished it around in her mouth for around 20 seconds, before spitting it out into the sink. Exhaling into the palm of her hand, she sniffed it to check the smell, she smiled at the minty smell of her breath. Satisfied, she walked out of the bathroom and went to her bedroom, passing by some of her classmates, such as Rin and Kaibara.

“Hey, Kendo-san. You excited for the field trip?” Sen Kaibara asked. Sen had straight black hair with pointy bangs, dark brown eyes, and slightly tanned skin. He was currently wearing a red shirt with yellow text that read ‘Atamani Drill’, and black baggy pants, he was also wearing grey slip-on shoes to match his casual outfit.

Itsuka then glanced at Hiryu Rin, who had his black hair in a braided ponytail. His black eyes looked heavy, probably from studying all night long, and his body expression exuded ‘half-asleep’ energy. He was wearing a brown button shirt with the sleeves being rolled up, accompanied by blue jeans and black sneakers.

“Yeah, I guess. Although, to be completely honest. I’m a bit worried that Vlad-Sensei might be pulling a fast one on us.” Itsuka said as Sen nodded, his eyes glancing over to Hiryu, who had a dull expression on his face. “Well. I’m going to get changed into some proper clothes, then we can get going.” Itsuka stated, a smile coming on her cheeks as the two boys nodded before walking away.

Itsuka let out a sigh, glancing behind her to see that the two boys had turned the corner. Taking in a deep breath, she walked to her room and entered, closing the door behind her. After picking out her undergarments and putting them on, she had to pick what to wear. She decided on her favourite light blue dress with white frills at the end, and to make sure her arms weren’t cold, she put a brown button-up jacket on over top of it; leaving the buttons undone as to let some air in. Slipping on some blue dress shoes, she exited her room and headed for the foyer of the dormitories with a clipboard in hand.

Once she made it to the foyer, she saw that everyone was there, waiting for her. However, just to be on the safe side, she pulled out a pen and glanced at the clipboard, and began listing off names of her fellow classmates.

Eventually, she finished listing off people's names and turned to look back up at everyone. “Ok, I think we are ready to get going. Are there any questions?” Itsuka asked as Neito Monoma raised his hand, his white dress shirt sleeve barely covering his wrist.

“Yes. Where is Vlad-Sensei? I haven’t seen, nor heard from him today?” Neito asked, dusting off one of his pant legs. He had been wearing an expensive pair of black dress pants and he hadn’t wanted them to get dirty, the same went for his expensive black dress shoes. Itsuka pondered the question before sighing.

“He said last night that he was already going to be there, so chances are he’s at the location now. Any further questions?” Itsuka asked as no one responded. “Ok, let’s go!” Itsuka said cheerfully as the doors to the 1-B dorms opened up. They all walked to the bus and boarded. The bus doors closed as Itsuka sat in the front row, looking out the window.

She began to wonder just what it was that Vlad King had set up for them, and she was just dying to know. After all, when Vlad King had something planned, it would be joyous, fun, and even a little bit hard. But Itsuka was always up for a challenge.

However, just as everyone began talking, and just as the bus began to move, a voice came on over the radio. One that they had never heard before. “A-hem! Hello, students of class 1-B! I’ll cut the introductions short and wait till you arrive at your lovely location, but for now, I suggest you all take a nice, long, and healthy nap…!” The shrill voice said as pink gas began to leak out of the air vents in the bus. As everyone tried to get up, their muscles became weak, and their bodies became heavy, as everyone fell asleep.

Before Itsuka fell victim to the gas, she heard the voice chuckle and say something that she couldn’t make out, before passing out.

On that day, class 1-B of Yuei’s hero course would experience something far more horrible than any villain attack they had ever encountered before in the past. On that day, they would learn what true, suffocating, unending, unrelenting malice and despair felt like.

**\- To Be Continued -**


	2. Prologue - 2: Heroes of Despair

**[Play: Beautiful Death]**

There was no noise… no smells, nothing. Just an empty void of nothingness. His breath hitched as he tried to figure out why he couldn’t smell or hear, nor see for that matter. It was like he was now suddenly blind, deaf, and null to scent. That was when finally, he woke up. Raising his head up from the desk at speeds not even an insane person would consider normal; Neito Monoma took in a deep breath and exhaled as his vision stopped blurring.

His eyes now accustomed to the semi-darkness of the room, he was able to see where he was. Just by being awake for not even a second, he instantly deduced that he wasn’t on that bus anymore. Moreover, he wasn’t at Yuei either, rather he had found himself in what seemed like… a university?

He looked at where it was he was sitting, a room that looked like one of those stereotypical colleges or university centred movies. The high-up bleacher seats, the rows of stairs leading to some sort of room in the back, and all the way down at the bottom were the teachers' desk. In front of him was a stripe of a counter with nothing but dust and his head outline in the middle of it. Just how long had he been out for?

He grabbed the side of his head, it was pounding. “Ugh… it’s like someone hit me on the head with a bag of bricks…” Neito stated, running his hand through his blond hair, messing it up at the back. He could hardly tell where he was at all, aside from the fact that this place was obviously a classroom. However, that did not change the fact that he still didn’t know where he was, geographically that is. His first thought was that he was kidnapped, and that would be his thought process until he saw otherwise.

Taking a look around his immediate area, he noticed that he was not alone. Glancing behind him he saw… “Komori-san?” Neito muttered, looking at the peacefully sleeping girl, her dark brown hair resting on the dusty table as she snored, her light brown hoodie was ruffled and her back had a light layer of dust resting on it. He would’ve questioned her status as being alive, had it not been for her snoring.

To the far right of Kinoko, Tetsutetsu was laying back in his chair, snoring away far louder than Kinoko. He was wearing a var-city blue and white jacket with the number 15 displayed on his left breast pocket. He also wore a pair of baggy grey pants. His silver hair and silver mask around his face made him look like the penultimate douchebag, however, he was just your typical ‘dude bro’ who didn’t seem to care for much, other than his friends, parties, his ‘fellow bros’ and other things that drove Neito up the wall.

How he was able to make it into Yuei was beyond him, however, unlike most other people; the person beside him, Kinoko Komori, was his complete opposite, at first. She was, at first, a shy, timid, and scared girl. However, only as of a few months ago, her self-esteem had skyrocketed when she hooked up with Shihai Kuroiro. Her outward personality had changed, but Neito could tell that, at least inwardly, she hadn’t changed one bit. Yet, her experience with her quirk was something fearsome.

As he glanced back at Tetsutetsu, he walked over to the staircase, then over to him and proceeded to shake him. “Come on dude, wake up already…!” Neito whispered, only to get no response. “Jeez… heavy sleeper much?” the blonde mumbled, focused mostly on the reason why he couldn’t wake him up. The gas must have been still affecting him. He came to that conclusion because Tetsutetsu was a light sleeper, so for him to still be out like a light after being shook was impossible.

Walking over to Kinoko, he tried the same thing, to yield a much better result. Within only a few seconds, Kinoko stirred awake, slowly lifting her head up before instantly yanking herself upwards, heavily breathing as if she had been drowning just moments before. “W-Where am I! W-What’s going on I-“ She began to panic as Neito placed a hand on her shoulder, forcing her to look at him as she breathed a sigh of relief.

“Oh good… Monoma. I was worried we had all been kidnapped and that we weren’t going to that field trip.” Kinoko said as Neito bit the corner of his lower lip. He didn’t know what to say to her. She was clearly unaware of the situation, however, that wasn’t what he was concerned about, his quirk should’ve activated right now, but it hadn’t. He should’ve been able to copy Kinoko’s quirk and use it to escape, yet… he couldn’t activate it.

“Komori-san. My quirk, it won’t work. Could you try using yours?” Neito asked as she looked at him puzzled, she looked down at her hands, then glanced around her, then back at Neito. She then put her hand on the front of the table and attempted to unleash a cloud of spores; with no results.

“H-H-Huh!? W-What’s going on! I should’ve been a-able to use it! S-So what gives!” Kinoko said, freaking out and panicking about the status of her quirk. However, what made it stranger for her, was that Neito had been focusing a little too much on her neck. _‘Oh god… I hope he didn’t see the-‘_

“There’s a collar on your neck. It has a blinking red light… something tells me that it has something to do with the reason as to why we can’t use our quirks. Come to think of it, they also look like those collars and handcuffs the police put on villains to deactivate their quirks. I wonder… does Vlad-Sensei not want us to use our quirks? And also… to keep this place a secret, use midnights gas to knock us out? That’s my theory at least.” Neito said in a rambling fashion as Kinoko looked at him with an odd sense of not only embarrassment but also relief.

“Oh, and I see that you got a hickey as well. Well, that doesn’t really surprise me all that much.” Neito mentioned offhandedly, causing Kinoko to sink back into her chair and let out a sigh. “But that’s the least of our concerns right now. Waking up the big guy is currently my main objective, so it would be best if we-“ Just as he was about to finish his sentence, Tetsutetsu’s eyes opened.

“What the…” Tetsutetsu muttered, looking around the room before rubbing his eyes. “We’re at the location already… Jeez, it didn’t even feel like a few hours had gone by, but…” He glanced over at the windows, which were barred off with iron bars, and to make matters worse, the windows were tinted, meaning that no one could see out of them.

“Nevermind. I don’t think we’re looking outside anytime soon.” Tetsutetsu stated, glancing back at Kinoko and Neito. “So… you two figure out where we are yet or…?” Tetsutetsu asked as Neito raised his eyebrow. Was he awake the whole time? Or was he just that adapt at looking at a situation? He couldn’t tell. Half the time Tetsutetsu was an idiot, the other half of the time the guy was a genius.

“No… but Monoma-kun figured out that Vlad-sensei put these quirk nullifying collars on our necks, meaning we can’t use our quirks,” Kinoko stated as Tetsutetsu scoffed. He glanced back at Neito, who was focused on the floor below them. “Uh… Monoma-kun? What’s the matter?” Kinoko asked as Neito looked back up and at them.

“Why would Vlad-sensei restrict our quirks like this… it just doesn’t add up. However, if he wants us to simulate being powerless, then I guess he’s done a good job.” Neito stated, looking around the room; the smell of rotting wood and dust filling his nose as he coughed. “I know where we are… we’re at the abandoned hero university. It was a project designed by Nedzu before Yuei became a thing. My parents went here for years… however they failed half their courses, resulting in them failing to obtain hero licenses.” Neito stated, causing Tetsutetsu to gasp.

“So this really did have Nedzu’s name written all over it. That could also explain the collars too. He had high stocks in the police, so he must have borrowed twenty to use on us for this exercise!” Tetsutetsu stated as Kinoko smiled.

“Well, at least we aren’t in immediate danger.” She stated, standing up, revealing her black ripped jeans and pink shoes. However, he also noticed something on her hoodie he hadn’t seen beforehand.

“Ultimate botanist?” Neito muttered, turning around to look at Tetsutetsu, who had the same tag on his jacket, however, his tag said something different. “Ultimate Team Player?” the blond muttered as then he looked down at his own white dress shirt to see he too had a tag on his shirt. “Ultimate Copycat? What the hell does that suppose to mean?”

“Well. Vlad-Sensei knows that I have a small garden in my dorm room back home… so… that must be what it means. Since I take care of my mushrooms in my dorm room, as well as having a massive farm of them back at my family's farmhouse, that must be why I’m the Ultimate Botanist~!” Kinoko said with a smile.

“Well, I’ve always been a team player, and you’ve always been a copycat. So that would mean that our titles are justified as well. Nice!” Tetsutetsu said as Neito went back to the edges of his mind. He knew these titles from… somewhere. He remembered that he played a game like this before… Ultimate titles… random locations…. But that’s all he knew… or at least all he could remember.

“Well, I personally think that Vlad-sensei got this idea from some sort of game… But I can’t remember which one. Oh well. The best thing we should do is look for everyone, or at the very least, try and explore the place a little.” Neito said as the two behind him nodded. He turned back to face the other two, who looked at him puzzlingly. 

“Have either of you tried to take off the collars yet?” Neito asked with curiousness in his tone as Kinoko shook her head.

“Not yet no. Why?” Tetsutetsu asked as Neito grabbed his own collar, and when he attempted to yank it off, he was shocked. Quickly removing his hand, he shook the pain away as Kinoko and Tetsutetsu looked shocked. “Dude, what the hell!” The silver-haired teen said in confusion and anger as Kinoko attempted to take hers off as well, only to be zapped as well.

“Yowch! Why does it have to hurt that much?!” Kinoko whined as Tetsutetsu tried taking his off, to the same result.

 _‘These two… what is with them? It’s like they haven’t been zapped before. I thought Kaminari showed them just how much electricity can hurt, but I guess they either forgot or are forcing themselves to forget. I’m beginning to think that maybe… just maybe Vlad-King wasn’t the one to come up with this… plot.’_ Neito thought as he glanced back down at the main floor, seeing the main door to the room open, and for Itsuka Kendo, Manga Fukidashi, and Setsuna Tokage to come into the room.

Manga was wearing a black waistcoat with a white shirt underneath, followed by a pair of black dress pants and black dress shoes. It matched his bubblehead, quite literally. Manga was unique, in that his face was literally a manga speech bubble. Then, there was Setsuna Tokage, who was wearing a green crop top with a dark green shirt underneath that, along with baggy green pants and red running shoes. Also to note was that her hair was in a ponytail mimicking that of Itsuka’s. 

The titular orange-haired girl looked around the room and spotted Neito, Kinoko, and Tetsutetsu all staring down at her. “Hey! Monoma-kun! Komori-san! Tetsu-kun! Come here!” Itsuka shouted, catching their attention. Kinoko waved down to her as she began to run down the stairs, followed by Tetsutetsu, then Neito.

Once Neito was able to make it down, he glanced over everyone’s shirts, looking for the same tag that he, Kinoko, and Tetsutetsu had. Sure enough, there was. Itsuka Kendo was the Ultimate Boxer. Manga Fukidashi was the Ultimate Mangaka, and Setsuna Tokage was the Ultimate Lizard Trainer. “Hey! Why are you staring at my chest you perv!” Setsuna shouted as she slapped him across the face.

“Ow! That was NOT what I was doing. I was reading your Ultimate title. We all have one from what it looks like.” Neito said, rubbing his cheek as Setsuna sighed. Itsuka giggled and Manga laughed. “Besides, I’m pretty sure that’s obvious since even if I was a perv, I know you’d stomp my ass into the grass even if I tried,” Neito muttered, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

“Hey, can any of you use your quirks?” Tetsutetsu asked, receiving no’s in the form of shaking heads. “So… basically, we’re supposed to be quirkless for this exercise? I mean, I don’t mind, but jeez. This test or… I don’t know, exam maybe, is kind of a bummer don’t ya think? Vlad-sensei never does this… It’s kinda fun!” Tetsutetsu asked as Neito facepalmed.

“I don’t think this is Vlad-sensei’s doing. This seems more like a Nedzu thing.” Neito started, causing everyone to look at him. “Think about it. Nothing this insane would be done by someone so level-headed as Vlad-Sensei. Only Nedzu would think of something like this.” Neito concluded as Itsuka put her hand to her chin in contemplation.

“Well… who knows. Maybe Vlad-Sensei wants us to train without using our quirks.” Itsuka suggested as Neito glanced at the floor. “Didn’t think of that one did’cha Monoma-kun,” Itsuka said, a sassy tone following her remark, causing Neito to grovel.

“What about the others? Shihai, Awase, and Shiozaki-chan specifically.” Kinoko asked as Setsuna perked up, a smug smirk on her face as she crossed her arms.

“Well, they’re all good, ‘cept for Kuroiro-kun. He was panicking about not being able to find you. Although, I don’t blame him, considering we found him in the janitor's closet. The dude might be a prankster, but he hates being pranked and being in tight spaces. He was totally claustrophobic and begging to be with his girlfriend.” Setsuna said, a dark red blush flushing over Kinoko’s cheeks as she shook with both rage and also embarrassment.

“But what about the collars? Does everyone else have them?” Tetsutetsu asked as the three newcomers revealed their collars as well. “Well… that’s just great.” Tetsutetsu deadpanned, an obvious look of annoyance visible on his face.

“Well… I think I might know what’s going on here. But-“

***Ding Dong Bing Bong***

**[Play: Nightmare in a locker]**

A bell rang throughout the room, interrupting Manga. Everyone turned to face the static-like noise that echoed in the room. There was a yellow TV screen on the opposite side of all of them. All that was on there was static, and the odd outline of what appeared to be a bear, moreover, a stuffed teddy bear.

“A-Hem! Attention all members of Class 1-B from the Yuei heroes course. Please make your way down to the auditorium. Once there, the ceremony will begin for this exciting and riveting new course, you have all been thrust into! Do not delay.”

The voice was cut off when the speaker’s died. The voice itself was full of what could only be assumed as pure joy. Yet, there was a hint of malice laced within the words that caught Neito off guard. “T-That sounded so much like N-Nedzu… but at the same time… it d-didn’t!” Kinoko stammered.

“Perhaps it’s a relative?” Neito speculated as he walked towards the door. “It would only make sense since that would explain why Nedzu is clearly deranged. But… this just seems far more… evil. If you ask me. But, we don’t really have a choice in the matter. So… let’s not keep our mystery instructor waiting.” Neito stated, walking out of the room, followed by everyone else who was in the room.

Itsuka had a gut feeling in her stomach that something was wrong. Something was very… very wrong. She caught up with Neito and began to walk at his pace. “Hey, do you have any suspicions about this place?” Itsuka asked him, only to be met with silence. It wasn’t normal for Neito to be this silent about a subject, yet, she understood. Chances were that he was just thinking things over in his head. She sighed, before putting both her hands behind her head as she looked up at the ceiling.

“You know Monoma-kun. When we go home, I was thinking we could go to the movie theatre. Just you and me. What do you think?” Itsuka asked as Neito smirked. He turned to his head to look at her as the smile on his face rested.

“I think it would be fun,” Neito said, looking back at the path before him. He could vaguely make out a doorway just nearing his eyesight. “We’re almost there. I wonder what’s going on behind those doors.” Neito thought out loud, continuing his pace as he inched closer towards the door. After two more minutes, the group made it to the doorway.

“So… this is the door to the auditorium?” Manga said, rubbing the back of his neck. The door was red with golden pins stuck within it. The rim of the door was made of silver, and the red cushions on the door made it seem like they were entering a king's throne room. “I think the design is kinda exaggerated; don’t ya think?” Manga asked the group as Itsuka hummed in contemplation.

“Well. Whatever is beyond that door… aside from the fact that it says auditorium, could mean that it’s super important.” Itsuka claimed, her eyes sparkling with curiosity. However, Tetsutetsu, Neito, Kinoko, and Setsuna didn’t seem so enthusiastic to open the door. For Neito it was doubly so. There just wasn’t something right about that door. If he stepped through that door… he felt as if he’d be signing his life away to… something. Again, much like a game, he had played on his mobile phone.

“What was that name again… Da… Dan… Dangan… Oh, forget it.” Neito mumbled as he pressed his hand against the door, gently pushing it open to reveal…

**[Play: Beautiful lie (Ver. B)]**

…Their whole class; standing and waiting for them. Everyone looked so… complacent. “Heya everyone!” Itsuka called out as some of the people in the area, notably Shihai Kuroiro, Yosetsu Awase, and Ibara Shiozaki, turned to look in their general direction.

Shihai was wearing an odd outfit, that consisting of a grey sweatshirt with a breast pocket, two white gloves, and the obvious collar. He wore black jeans with tears at the knee, and he wore black shoes. The only thing that didn’t look like it was a part of his body, was his shirt. On his tag, it said Ultimate Spy.

Yosetsu was different, whereas Shihai wore something normal, Yosetsu was wearing a blue sweater vest, a black shirt with gear motifs on the shoulders, and black pants with gear motifs on the pant leggings. His tag said, Ultimate Welder.

Then there was Ibara. Ibara wore the run of the mill white summer dress and rosary around her neck. Something she’d always wear. Also the same collar as both Yosetsu and Shihai. However, she also wore red fingerless gloves with black dress shoes. The tag on her chest said, Ultimate priest.

Shihai took one good look at Kinoko and ran up to her, gripping her in a vice-grip-like hug. “S-Shihai! C-Can’t. B-B-Breathe!” Kinoko stammered out as Shihai let go, lowering his head before letting out a deep sigh.

“I was so worried about you… I thought you were in danger or… or something. To make things worse, no one here can use their quirks… I thought you’d be hurt or… or worse.” Shihai said as Kinoko ruffled his hair. He raised his face up to meet hers as she kissed him on the forehead.

“It’s fine. I was lucky Monoma-kun and Tetsu-kun were there to help me wake up. I would’ve been out like a light for hours on end if no one had attempted to wake me up.” Kinoko said, rubbing the back of her head as she pulled up her hood to cover her face. “Although… it was a bit embarrassing having Monoma waking me up by rubbing my shoulders,” Kinoko said as Shihai gave the blonde a death glare.

“Hey! No! I jabbed your shoulders, not rubbed them!” Neito said defensively as Itsuka patted him on the back. The blonde sighed as Shihai relented. “Regardless, don’t go saying stuff like that Komori-san… it’s not polite. Besides, you made me seem like I was trying to hit on you or something. That’s up Tsuburaba’s alley.” Neito said, throwing shade at Class 1-B’s pervert, who Neito would hear vaguely shout ‘hey’ in the distance.

“Well… regardless of that. I wonder if this course has any sort of ties to Yuei. Meanwhile, I think Nedzu has something to do with this… I don’t think it was all him. I think that the whole Yuei staff is behind this. I just hope that this is nothing… yeah know, dangerous.” Tetsutetsu said as Itsuka smirked.

“Well, personally I think-“

**[Stop Ost]**

***Clink***

The lights went out. Everyone was plunged into deep darkness, and nobody, not even Shihai, could see in it. “H-Hey! What’s going on here!” A random voice of the students said as everyone glanced around each other, trying to gauge what exactly was going on. Then, it started.

**[Play: Punishment rocket]**

Stage lights turned on as everyone turned to face the stage, revealing dark red curtains. The curtains ripped apart at rapid speeds, revealing seven body bags, and in the center, was Nedzu, sitting in a chair with duct tape wrapped around his mouth, arms, and legs. He was dangling just above a water tank by a steel chain, and in the water were several variants of sharks.

Nedzu shook, trying to get out of the chair. However, just as he came close to freeing his arms, a figure flashed just in front of him at light speeds, a red light flashing before him. However, when the red light faded, the chain had snapped, and he began to fall into the water tank. Once he entered the water tank he was torn apart by the sharks, eaten alive as his screams were heard in the audience.

**[Stop Ost]**

**[Play Mr. Monokuma After class]**

To gauge what just happened in words would be strictly impossible. The water tank, now stained with the blood of their now-deceased principal was lowered under the stage as the body bags slid off of the bodies, revealing the staff of Yuei hung by nooses. Some had cuts on their throats, others didn’t. As a collective, class 1-B was in complete shock.

“W-What on earth was that!”

“Holy fucking shit…”

“N-Nedzu…”

“I-I can’t even… begin to understand this!”

All of these were just some of the reactions class 1-B delivered. However, most shocked of all, was Itsuka. The bodies of all the Yuei staff were one thing… but to watch the death of their beloved, slightly unhinged, principal; live… that was something that crossed more boundaries than she could even count.

Moral.

Basic human decency.

A conscious.

A sense of guilt.

A sense of remorse.

It was clear, to her at least, that this seemed like this person they were dealing with, was a psychopath that now, she and her class now had to deal with. The only issue… they couldn’t use their quirks. Not in the slightest. That was when they heard… it.

“Puhuhuhu… that was… EXTREME!” The high pitched voice of what sounded like Nedzu shouted, the shadowy figure appeared, revealing its appearance as it stepped into the spotlight. One side of its body was white, and the other half was black. The white side looked like a normal stuffed bear, and the, more black side looked more akin to a demon. Its dark red thunder bolt-shaped eye glared at everyone; its razor-sharp teeth radiated the same red demonic energy as it opened its mouth to speak.

“Welcome students of Yuei. I am your new headmaster. Headmaster Monokuma! And welcome to your now brand new homes inside the new and improved Despair University! How long is your stay? You might be asking! Oh, don’t worry, I’ll tell you… For the rest. Of. Your. Lives!”

**\- To Be Continued -**


	3. Prologue - 3: Heroes of Despair

**[Play Despair Syndrome (2)]**

Class 1-B stared up at the stage, the demonic monochromatic bear glaring at them all with untold malice. Its red demonic eye shining, lighting up the crowd. Everyone was trying to deny what it was that just happened. They tried to deny the fact that they just witnessed their beloved principal get ripped apart by sharks. They refused to believe that the people hanging by the nooses were their teachers. They refused to believe this was all real. The lights had now turned on, illuminating the stage and the area surrounding it as the stage lights shut off.

“O-Ok… Haha, you got us… can you please stop the joke now?” Yosetsu said, his voice shaken at, what he believed to be, brutally real CGI on stage. Monokuma looked at him with a tilted head, mocking a confused tone of voice as he spoke.

“Joke? Oh. I see you think I’m joking hmm? Well. That’s no good.” Monokuma said, clapping his white and black paw together as Vlad-King’s noose was brought to Monokuma on a track. The titular bear cut the rope down and held the remainder of the rope beside him. “Do you call THIS, a joke?” Monokuma asked, a claw coming out of his black paw. Everyone then proceeded to watch in horror as the bear decapitated their teacher in front of them, the head rolling down onto the floor in front of Jurota Shishida, Pony Tsunotori, and Kosei Tsuburaba.

Jurota was wearing a brown pinstripe tuxedo with the same coloured pants and shoes. A pocket watch was in his right breast pocket, and in his left was a neatly folded up cloth. Under the left breast pocket was his Ultimate title, Ultimate Gentleman. Unlike other people in class 1-B, he looked more akin to that of a bear than a human.

Pony was wearing a white and blue striped shirt and blue jean shorts. Over top, the shirt was a red vest that had her Ultimate title on the left side of the vest. The card read: Ultimate Bull Wrangler. Another strange one of class 1-B. She had horse-like legs, and she had horns on her head.

Then there was Kosei Tsuburaba. He was wearing a blue hoodie with black running shorts, along with grey sandals. He also had a backpack on, said backpack was grey and it had a variety of stickers on it, mostly from popular animes and video games. His tag said Ultimate Otaku. His dark brown hair was covered by his hood, which he pulled over his eyes so he didn’t have to see the grizzly sight before him. 

The head faced Jurota as the hot pink blood splashed on his brown tuxedo. Jurota screamed, then, without thinking, he kicked the decapitated head to the side as it rolled over to a faraway corner. At this point, everyone who had previously thought this was a joke had now been forced to accept the gruelling reality that now awaited them.

All of the staff at Yuei were dead…

They had just watched Nedzu die….

And now, to confirm to those who did not believe the situation to be real… **_Monokuma had decapitated Vlad-King in front of everyone to enforce the new gritty reality that class 1-B was thrust into_**.

“I believe everyone now understands that this IS NOT a joke and that this is VERY real,” Monokuma said, his demonic smirk returning as his claws retracted. Vlad-King’s lifeless body was dropped as blood dripped from the neck stub. No one had anything to say. The auditorium was deathly silent, like something had just swept up everyone’s voices, and ran off with them. The only noise that you could hear, were the drops of blood hitting the floor, and the breathing of other students.

Until finally, someone spoke up.

“T-This is t-too c-cruel!” Juzo Honenuki said, his grey reflective jacket reflected the red light that Monokuma’s eye and mouth gave off. His dark green jeans fit tight to his legs, and his black shoes had blood splatter on them from the head. Monokuma glared at the boy, however, the evil glare died down as their new ‘headmaster’ rocked back and forth, his hands behind his back as he snickered.

“Awe, don’t be sad, upset, or even mad! Despite the fact that you are all clearly not enjoying this gift I’ve given you. I can assure you, that despite all of this, Despair academy will be far better then Yuei ever has been!” Monokuma, raising his arms into the air, emphasized the school.

“However, like most schools, there are rules! Rules that must be followed, and enforced! Speaking of which, in order to read the rules, you’ll need… these!” Monokuma shouted as a box was seemingly thrown out from behind him. The box landed just in front of everyone, and inside the box were what seemed like phones. Phones that… looked like they were from the future.

“Now, please, take one of the MonoPad’s and turn them on, then, read the rules. They are important to know if you do not want to… be punished.” Monokuma said, his eye glowing brightly causing everyone to turn on their tablets. As Neito booted his up, his name appeared. The bootup screen looked something like this.

** Hello, Welcome: Monoma Neito, Ultimate Copycat.  **

When the device booted up, he was taken directly to the rules section as he began to read off the rules in his head.

**Rule 1: Under no circumstances are students of Despair University allowed to attack, or harm Headmaster Monokuma. Doing this will result in immediate punishment.**

**Rule 2: There will be NO sleeping outside of school provided dormitories. If you are caught (On camera or in-person) sleeping outside of your dorms, it will be counted as sleeping in class, and therefore you will be punished.**

**Rule 3: Between the times of 10 pm to 7 am is considered ‘Nighttime’. Things such as the cafeteria and water will not be running at those times, so it is best to avoid attempting on using it. The only water that is functional at that time period is toilet water (Which is filled with rat poison, drinking from it is a bad idea), and a clean water dispenser in the dorm which you are given.**

**Rule 4: Absolutely NO destroying school property. This includes: Monopads (The thing you are using), Cameras, TV monitors, In school equipment, or any official Monobrand equipment. You will be punished.**

**Rule 5: Students are free to explore the facility with little to no restrictions, aside from blocked-off areas at nighttime. These include: Cafeteria (Minus the kitchen in case of either A. Emergency murders, or B. Midnight snack), Computer lab (Unless given explicit access to by Monokuma himself), and Medical bay (Unless it is for an emergency).**

**Rule 6: More rules may be added in the near future.**

Neito stuffed his MonoPad into his pocket, all the while class 1-B reacted to the rules set out by Monokuma. To be honest, to Neito at least, they seemed reasonable. Although, he was worried about what the word ‘punishment’ meant. He figured that it was just as simple as detention, and not anything else. Maybe since this guy is a psychopath, perhaps it was solitary confinement? He didn’t know, and he did not want to find out.

Jurota looked up at Monokuma and raised his hand, causing Monokuma to smirk. “Yes, Shishida? Also, thank you for raising your hand, actually, come to think of it, this is the first time someone just didn’t yell their question at me.” Monokuma said as Jurota rolled his eyes before looking back at Monokuma.

“If I may ask. Why are these rules set in place?” Jurota asked as Monokuma snickered, then his snicker turned into a full-blown laugh, taking those who were still zoned out completely back into the reality of the situation.

“Upupupupu! Of course, you’d be the one to ask such a simple, yet also very important question. All societies have laws and rules do they not? Of course, this place MUST have rules so that things don’t get too out of hand. Ya’ know? Otherwise, things could get… very complicated.” Monokuma said, his red eye flashing for a second before dying down.

“Peaceful societies run off of rules to keep things in order. And in order to keep the peace, one must follow the law or else face extreme punishment. HOWEVER! Since I thought that being stuck in some dingy old university without some entertainment would be bad… I came up with a valid way to leave this place.” Monokuma said, catching everyone’s attention.

“Y-You mean! We have a chance to escape!” Reiko Yanagi said, her white Kimono and black yoga pants were virtually unmoving, and her hands were covered by her Kimono sleeves, which made it look like she was some sort of cultist. There were flower patterns on her Kimono, along with the pink belt at the back, which stood out the most from her outfit. Her tag said: Ultimate Paranormal Medium.

**[Stop Ost]**

“Upupupupu…! Why I thought you’d never ask! Yes! There is a way to escape this place, and better yet, I’ve called it: The Graduation Clause!! Sounds cool, right?” Monokuma asked, to no one's response. The bear sighed, before turning around and sticking one paw up. “There is only one rule for the graduation clause. I think, at least to me, it makes sense.” Monokuma said as he turned back around, the right side of his body, notably his mouth and eye, glowed a malicious red.

“The only way to collect The Graduation clause is to disrupt the peace,” Monokuma said, causing the class to mutter amongst themselves. Monokuma was growing impatient, however, his imposing behaviour finally led to the question he was waiting for.

“Out of curiosity alone. How would one… disrupt the ‘peace’. Hiryu asked, his tag said he was the Ultimate Lizard Tamer. Monokuma laughed once again, catching everyone off guard.

“Upupupupu! That was what I was waiting for. You see. The only way to disrupt the peace of this society is…” Monokuma started as he raised both his hands into the air, the red demonic light in his eye shining brighter than ever before; as he spoke the words that would send chills down everyone’s spines.

**[Play: To Survive]**

“…Is to kill another person and get away with it!” Monokuma said, sending everyone into shock. No one, absolutely no one had any idea how to deal with this situation anymore. At first, everyone thought that this would be your bog-standard kidnapping plot and that nothing that could harm them would come out of this situation. Then the execution of their principal happened, then the decapitation of their teacher happened… then this.

The dead silence made Monokuma delighted. He lowered his hands and menacingly glared forward at the ex-heroes in training as he started talking again. “Beating, stabbing, burning, strangling, slashing, hacking, poisoning, drowning, etc, etc. There are no limits to killing. So long as you kill them, and you get away with it, you can leave this place. Simple enough right?” Monokuma said as everyone remained silent…

Until he mentioned one more thing that sent one person in the crowd off the deep end.

“Oh, and one more thing. This whole thing is being broadcasted. Live! Your friends, family, loved ones, co-workers, and random passersby are watching this. And the best part is because we’re are cloaked, no one can find us. And by an off chance that someone does find us, we have far stronger defences to prevent any hero or villain from coming in and stopping this little experiment of mine. Upupupupu! Isn’t that wonderful! You can kill, kill, kill and NO one aside from those inside this university can stop you!” Monokuma said, his complete disregard for life, and his clear psychopathy was enough to drive one person in the panicked and terrified crowd to anger.

“THAT’S ENOUGH!” The loud and angry voice of Itsuka Kendo shouted, causing everyone to look at her in bewilderment and shock. “You will stop this sick joke of yours and let us go before the heroes and police arrive to stop it! WE refuse to participate in this sick and twisted little game of yours!” Itsuka shouted, marching up to the stage with flames in her eyes.

Monokuma slowly began to back up as Itsuka set foot on stage. No one tried to stop her, as they all hoped she could reveal the trick to all of this. All of them except Neito. “WAIT! KENDO-SAN! DON’T YOU’LL-“

But he was too late. Itsuka kicked Monokuma to the floor and placed one foot on his stomach triumphantly. “Let. Us. Go.” Itsuka growled as Monokuma squirmed on the ground, trying to get up off the floor as he grunted.

“I-I can’t believe this! W-Were y-you not paying attention to the rules?” Monokuma uttered out in an almost disappointed tone of voice. “Those who attack Headmaster Monokuma… will be strictly punished.”

**[Stop Ost]**

It all happened so fast that… even if anyone wanted to, they wouldn’t have been able to stop it. Several spears came flying out of the ground, piercing through Itsuka. The first went through her right knee. The second and third went through her left thigh and through her left ankle. Four, five, and six went through her abdomen, upper and lower. Seven, Eight, and nine went through her upper chest. And the final tenth spear stabbed through her head, killing her instantly.

**[Play Despair syndrome (1)]**

“What. Was. That.” Was all Setsuna could say as a hot pink liquid had gathered below and on Itsuka. Her clothes were now stained with her own blood. Monokuma weaselled his way out from underneath her now suspended foot as it dangled there… motionless. Within a blink of an eye, Itsuka Kendo was killed… no, executed, for her transgression against the headmaster of Despair university.

Nobody said a word. They were all stuck in silence. Some had tears escaping their eyes, even though they didn’t know it. They just all witnessed the death of their class representative. Nae, their class's big sister. Shot down as if she were nothing but a house fly annoying the house owner. However, when Monokuma laughed, everyone turned their silent anger towards him.

“Whelp. That’s that. She broke the rules, and now you all know what happens to those who even dare attempt to break any of them.” Monokuma said as two more Monokuma-Esque droids took her body and exited stage left.

“That’s that… that’s all you can say when you’ve just killed someone in cold blood?” Togaru Kamakiri said in a calm, yet angered tone of voice. His ripped, short-sleeved green shirt and ripped blue jeans spoke volumes about the type of person he was. He had a white undershirt underneath his ripped green one. He had two quirks, a mutant type quirk called: Praying Mantis, which made his face look like that of a more human-like praying mantis and changed the colour of his skin to a light shade of green. The second quirk was an emitter type quirk called: Razor-sharp, which allowed him to create blades out of his arms. His tag read: Ultimate Swordsman.

“Yeah? And? What are you going to do about it? Do you want to join her in becoming a punctured statue? If so, be my guest.” Monokuma said with a devilish smirk on his face, making Togaru glare at him with untold amounts of rage. However, he held back, not wanting to die as Itsuka did.

Neito, on the other hand, was… distraught. Only five minutes ago did she say that when they leave, they’d go to the movies. Only five minutes ago when she said when they left, when they got home, she basically said ‘wanna go to the movies for a date’. And now? That wasn’t going to happen. Not now, not in the future, and not even in a few hours. She was gone. Dead. Murdered by some… bear demon, hellbent on making them kill each other.

His eyes were emotionless… only empty blue dots with a white background as his forehead became clouded with shadow. “Oh? It seems someone is in despair! How wonderful!” Monokuma said, laughing maniacally. “That’s what I like to see. Someone falling into despair after a close friend, or maybe even a loved one’s death! All because they were too stupid to listen to the rules!” Monokuma said, howling in laughter as Neito just stood there, not doing anything.

He didn’t respond. He didn’t blink. He just… stared, at the ground. He refused to make eye contact with anyone. It was his fault. He could’ve stopped her… he could’ve made it so that she would’ve survived. Yet… he couldn’t do a single thing. Because he was too fear-stricken by the graduation clause. And because of that, his best friend died. That was when he felt something hit him in the back of the head, waking him from his stupor.

“Hey! Cut it out Monoma! Now’s not the time to be all depressed and shit!” Togaru said, causing Neito to look at the boy. The mohawk-wearing boy glared daggers at Monokuma before sneering. “What do you want now. Are you happy? You broke my friend, traumatized everyone, and you just stand there laughing it off like some sort of psychopath?! What the fuck is wrong with you!” Togaru shouted as Monokuma just waved him off.

“Oh, what does it matter. As I said, she broke the rules, she got punished, that’s that. Live and let learn. Learn from her mistake so it never happens again. Now, moving on, your dorms are just a few corridors down. They open with automatic fingerprint technology, so only you can open and close your own dorm room. Now, the entrance ceremony is over, goodbye everyone!” Monokuma said, exiting stage left, leaving everyone in a state of befuddlement and confusion.

“W-What j-just happened…” Nirengeki Shoda said, his grey hoodie and white pants were sagging due to them being a few sizes too big, and his black polished shoes now had blood splatter on them from being too close to the stage when Itsuka was impaled. His tag said Ultimate Student Body.

“I-I don’t know.” Setsuna pointed out as she balled her hands into fists before gnashing her teeth together in rage. She huffed out hot air before turning around to face everyone. “NO MATTER WHAT THAT BEAR WANTS, WE WON’T GIVE IN! WE WILL LIVE ON IN ITSUKA’S NAME, AND NEVER BEND THE KNEE TO THAT MADMAN!” Setsuna shouted, causing everyone to shout back ‘never give in’.

The hype died down as Jurota cleared his throat. “We should go to our dorms and try our best to calm down. Then, in an hour, we will meet back up in the cafeteria, which was alluded to in the rules.” Jurota said as everyone dispersed to their dorms.

**[Play: Beautiful Death]**

Neito walked up to his dorm room door. There was a pixelated sprite of him on said door made of stainless steel, which admittedly weirded him out. Shaking his head, he opened the door, his fingerprint detected as he pushed it open.

The room was the same size as the dorm rooms given to them at Yuei. A small square, 5 x 5 x 5 x 5, room with a single sized bed, an empty bookshelf, and a desk. However, there were also some key differences. To the right-hand side of the bed was a glass door that led to what Neito could only assume to be a bathroom. Then, there was the water dispenser right next to it. On the desk was what looked like a sword holder, and beneath that was a note.

Walking up to the note, Neito picked it up and began to read off what it said. The note read as follows:

_Dear Room Occupant._

_Thank you for choosing Despair Academy as your place of education. Please remember that while you are here, please adhere to the rules and regulations that have been set out by Headmaster Monokuma, lest you be punished. Like Monokuma has said, there are no limits to how you kill someone, whether it be by bashing someone in the head with a blunt object, stabbing someone with a knife, or burning someone alive. It does not matter how you do it, however, we do want some form of creativity, so please do not be bland. You all have 3 sets of perfectly replicated copies of the clothes you are wearing in your desks, as well as an extra sheet, if you lose them, that is your fault. Again, we are glad you could come here, please enjoy your stay._   
  


_Best of Luck: E._

The person who signed the letter went by the name… E? What an odd name, or perhaps it hid the rest of the person's name? Perhaps so, but then wouldn’t that mean… Monokuma wasn’t the only one who put this death trap together? If so… who was it? Most people would’ve been offended by the letter and would’ve thrown it out, however, Neito simply neatly put it back where he found it and sat on his bed.

The bed was surprisingly soft. Almost like it was a deathbed. If it was anything to give Monokuma credit for, it was that he was good at making someone feel like they were in a coffin, or at the very least, good at making someone at least somewhat comfortable in horrible situations. Letting out a huff of disapproval, he was about to lay his head down on his pillow when a knock came from his door.

Sitting upright, he got up from his bed and walked over to the door. Unfortunately, there were no peepholes to look through, so he just had to blindly open the door and hope for the best. The door opened to reveal Setsuna standing there, a saddened look on her face as she looked up at him. “Hey… uh… we’re having that meeting now, earlier than expected,” Setsuna said as Neito sighed.

“Well, I guess we should go,” Neito stated, rolling his shoulders before stepping out of his room. “Where are we meeting up at again?” The blond asked, closing the door behind him as Setsuna took a second to think back to what Jurota said.

“Uh… I think Shishida-kun said we were going to meet up at the cafeteria. He had found it and changed his mind about meeting up later, and jumped to now.” Setsuna said, an empty smile appearing on her face for a second. The smile was devoid of joy, more just a way to feign happiness and excitement. How could someone be genuinely happy after just witnessing one of their best friends be skewered multiple times?

“Just follow me. I know where to go.” Setsuna said as Neito nodded, following Setsuna to the cafeteria for the meeting. The walls of the school were covered in a thin layer of dust, hiding the greyish colour of the walls. Then again, the dust made it more of a grey colour, so it didn’t truly change much.

The pair made it to the cafeteria as Neito recoiled in surprise at seeing everyone sitting at a table together. It was big enough for 19 people, which really shocked him, to say the least. He approached the table and took a seat next to Reiko. The moment he sat down; the discussion began.

“Now that everyone is here and accounted for, I’d like to address the elephant in the room,” Jurota said as he cleared his throat. “Let us first have a moment of silence for our dearly departed Itsuka Kendo,” Jurota said, lowering his head. Everyone followed the action, and for a full minute, there was nothing but silence. Only the ticking of the clock was heard, along with creaks coming from the old building.

The minute was up, as Jurota raised his head to look at every one. He glanced around the table before taking a deep breath. Afterward, he folded his arms and began to speak. “Now. I’m going to assume that everyone also got that note from this mysterious ‘E’ person, correct?” Jurota said as everyone nodded or hummed in approval. “I see… whoever this ‘E’ person is, they are behind this,” Jurota said, causing more hums of agreement.

“I say we do a bit of research of our own on who this ‘E’ person is.” Hiryu stated as a few people agreed with this statement. However, there was one person who objected, and they made it clear, too.

“No.” The voice of Kojirou Bondo stated as everyone turned to look at the gentle giant. He wore a blue shirt with a green star on the front and baggy black shorts. His yellow, almost golden colour skin stuck out like a sore thumb. However, his timid stance made his ‘imposing’ no sound more like a weak call out.

“I-I just t-think that it w-would be a-a waste of t-time. W-We should f-focus on t-trying t-to escape.” Kojirou said as Ibara nodded along to this idea, her vine-like hair flowing elegantly across her shoulders.

“Bondo-kun’s argument is a good one. However, this also leads to my question. How are you going to attempt an escape when our quirks are not working. Monokuma has this place most likely renovated if those… spears… are anything to scoff at. Chances are our only escapes are… booby-trapped.” Ibara stated, causing a few people to sigh or hum in disappointment.

“While that is true. It can’t hurt to try.” Kaibara said, crossing his arms as he let out a deep sigh. His tag said that he was the Ultimate Analyst.

“These collars though… are super itchy man. However, I figured out a way to remedy that. If you hover your hand ***Just*** above it. It’ll vibrate, basically giving you a free neck massage.” Yosetsu said as a few people snickered at his attempt to lighten the mood. To his credit, it worked.

“We’re getting off-topic. We need to set some ground rules for this place. I don’t want to doubt anyone, but I know some people here want out of here and are willing to do anything it takes to get out… so I think a good rule of thumb is that we should not be allowed to leave our dormitories unless we want to get a snack from the kitchen. I would say that the other person is to be accompanied by someone, however… we all know how that could turn out if someone is that desperate.” Kosei said, surprising everyone with his attention to detail.

“Jeez! It’s like you’ve done this before.” Setsuna said as Kosei sighed. Folding his arms and leaning back.

“That’s because I have. Well… not in real life, but there is a game on Steam called: Danganronpa. I’ve sunk maybe like… what? 20 hours into it. Whoever set this up, is a massive fan of the game, more so than even myself. I mean, they even built a life-like Monokuma. How the hell does someone have the money for that kind of stuff!” Kosei said as everyone looked at him shocked.

“Y-You’re telling me… that there is a game about this very situation!” Togaru shouted in anger as Kosei waved his hands defensively.

“Hey, hey! Don’t get so aggressive. They're not based on OUR predicament. What I’m saying, is that these games, that came out nearly over 200 years ago, are the basis of OUR predicament. The person who made this situation up is a person who played these games. I mean hell, I hate to say this, but Kendo-san’s death was a play by play reshowing of the main antagonist, Junko Enoshima’s execution in the first game. Her twin sister, Mukuro, disguised as her, rebelled against her, and she killed her for it.” Kosei explained as everyone’s jaws dropped.

“So… the situation we are in… is based on a videogame call Danganronpa… and the person who made this event happen, is a super fan with a lot of money, and a lot of time on their hands?” Tetsutetsu said as Kosei nodded.

“Come to think of it. I’ve played the game too. The 3rd one, V3. I played the mobile port but still. I knew this was familiar, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.” Neito said as Shihai let out a sigh.

“Ok, so it's clear that whoever is making us do this, is doing it because of their sick obsession with a video game they’ve played. That much we now know. However, what ground rules were you thinking of Tsuburaba.” Shihai said as Kosei smirked.

“I’m glad you asked. The characters from the game clearly failed in a lot of ways. But that was because it was a game with fictional characters, and the plot needed to be moved along in the game to keep the players interested. So…! Therefore I think we should do the ‘No leaving our dormitories after 10 pm unless snacks’ rule. Also, the ‘never leave your room until the morning announcement’ rule. If the person who is replicating Danganronpa to a tee, they’ll have a morning announcement at 7 am sharp.” Kosei said as Juzo reclined in his chair.

“Well. That works for me. Although for once I find myself saying this, you’re actually really smart Tsuburaba-kun. I guess it pays to have an Otaku like you in our class.” Juzo said as Kosei rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

“I hate to be that person. But… I think that idea is stupid.” Yui Kodai said, her black waistcoat and white shirt sagged as she leaned back into her chair. She wore a knee-high skirt and black stockings and the tag on her waistcoat said Ultimate ???.

**[Play: Death Wish]**

“W-What do you mean!” Kinoko stated as Yui sighed, dusting off her skirt and standing up from the meeting table. She began to walk away before turning her head 180 degrees to look back at everyone at the table.

“It is inevitable for someone to kill another to escape this place. We might have been close friends in the dorms, but you saw what happened to Itsuka. You saw what happened to Vlad-Sensei and the other staff. Even Nedzu wasn’t safe from that thing's wrath. If you think for one moment that we can make it all out of here alive without another one of us going down, you are all blinded by faith. Faith that will allow us to continue living together in peace when I can almost guarantee you; it won’t last for long.” Yui said, looking back to check the time.

“It’s nearing 10 pm. We need to head back to our dorms before the bear shows up. I suggest you all try and keep in mind the situation we are in. As I said before, we may have been friends back at Yuei. But as of right now, I consider you all a threat until we either escape or until I die. Either one, it doesn’t matter. Good night.” Yui said, walking to her dorm room and leaving everyone in a state of confusion.

No one wanted to accept what she said, however, they all couldn’t lie to themselves. In many aspects, she was right. This situation will turn friend against friend, lovers against one another, and propagate anger and fear. Without a single word to one another, they all left back to their dorms as a metal gate closed off the cafeteria.

Neito closed his door behind him, a clicking sound was heard; indicating that it locked. He sat on the left side of his bed, a deep sigh exiting his lips as he swallowed back the building fear. Why was this happening? They were having a normal day… yet… this all had to happen. A promise of a school trip. The school trip turns out to be a trap, set up by some mysterious ‘E’ person, who happens to be a Danganronpa superfan, and now they’ve been trapped in this… strange ‘Despair University’ and forced to become killers to survive.

Then there was the thing that Yui said. He didn’t want to believe her, but she was right. Everyone was a potential enemy, and as far as he cared… right now, he wanted to sleep. Just as he was about to take off his clothes and head to bed, he heard squishy footsteps behind him, when all of a sudden…

“BOO!!!”

**[Play: Mr. Monokuma’s Lesson V3]**

“GAHHH!!!!” Neito screamed as Monokuma appeared behind him, causing him to fall to the floor. “You asshole! You scared me half to death!” Neito shouted as Monokuma snickered. This gave Neito a chance to get up and dust himself off.

“What’s the big idea, trapping us here and making us play your stupid Danganronpa Fantasy!” Neito shouted as Monokuma tilted his head.

“Wha-wha-what? What do you mean? Danganronpa? I don’t know what the hell your… OH! The games based on the past? The ones ***I*** created? Oh yeah, I guess it’s sort of my fantasy. I mean, I ***have*** been making them for over 200 years. Oh! Are you a fan! I haven’t met a fan in a long time! Not ever since that Tsumugi Shirogane girl. That was when I made my fifty-third game, and she helped me out. Say… you’re not trying to squeeze in some sort of deal are you?” Monokuma said as Neito was dumbstruck.

“Anyways, enough about that, you wanna talk about that later, you can, but I’m here to tell you that the rules have been updated with important information. You should read up on them if you want to make sure you’re following the rules correctly. Anyways, that’s all, talk to you later, buh-bye!” Monokuma said, walking into his bathroom. Neito heard his toilet flush, causing him to check the bathroom, only to find that he wasn’t there anymore.

**[Play: Beautiful Death]**

Neito didn’t know how to react to all of that. Monokuma came in, stated that he created the Danganronpa games, and then he proceeded to ask if he was a fan of the games! Well… he was… but not anymore! Not after learning that they were based on real past events. It made him furious just thinking about the fact that Monokuma created those horrible games. Although he couldn’t lie to himself, they were fun…

It was around that time when he was reflecting on what had just happened when he heard his MonoPad rumble. He picked it up from out of his pocket as the screen turned on in the rules section.

**Rule 6: In the event of a murder occurring/occurred. A small amount of time will be dedicated to investigating the murder. Shortly thereafter, a class trial will start. (More information will be given out when the time arises)**

**Rule 7: During an investigation, all previously locked places will become unlocked, however, this only pertains within the walls of where you are currently locked at. The areas that are gated off via progression will still be locked.**

**Rule 8: During a class trial, no violence will be tolerated. If anyone attempts to attack one another during the trial physically, they will be punished. This does not pertain to when people are off of the trial grounds.**

**Rule 9: More rules may be added in the near future.**

Neito let out a massive sigh before shutting off the MonoPad. Glancing at the time, he yawned. It was 10:15 pm. He assumed he could attempt to get some form of sleep. He knew it would be nearly impossible, but he had to try. “Who knows… when I wake up in the morning, it could be in my dorm room, at Yuei, with Itsuka in the living room watching tv… I can only hope.” Neito said, chucking the MonoPad onto the desk and laying back into his pillow. The lights went out as he closed his eyes, hoping that when they opened, he’d be anywhere but in that room.

**|Prologue- End| Survivors remaining: 19| Item obtained: Bloody blue hair tie|**

**\- To Be Continued -**


	4. Chapter 1 - 1: Dying Hope, Blossoming Despair - Daily Life

Hey everyone. Sorry for the long wait! I’ll tell you all why it took so long, you see, the other times I’ve done this, I’ve never actually fully planned things out. Sure I had a storyboard, but I never had a clear story set in stone for each chapter. So, I painstakingly storyboarded the whole first chapter (1 – 1, 1 – 2, 1 – 3, 1 – 4, and 1 – 5), It took me nearly a month to do so, but here we are. After all, a rushed product is always bad, but a detailed product will always be good. So… I hope you guys are ready for this, so… lets. Get. This. Party. Started!

**“So… she was the one to break the rules huh? How sad… oh well Hehehe!”** The mysterious figure said, reclining back in their chair as they watched on the monitor. **“ _*Yawn*_ , oh boy… How I hate waking up this early, but…! I have a job I have to do! Uh… what did they say I had to do… OH! Yeah! Wake up these morons and then go get them! Well, here goes nothing!” **The figure said before pressing a red button to turn on the morning announcement for the unwilling participants down below. The figure then ran off to go get the person running the show.

Chapter 1 – 1: Dying Hope, Blossoming Despair – Daily Life. 

**[Play: Beautiful Death]**

Neito tossed and turned on his bed. His mind racked from what had happened only just a few short hours ago. His forehead was caked in sweat, his pyjama’s, that being of a wife-beater shirt and black boxer shorts, were all soaked in sweat. However…

**_*DING, DONG, BING, BONG!*_ **

“Go~~~od Morning everyone! It’s now officially 7.A.M! Nighttime is now officially over! Time to rise and shine~! Get ready to greet another beautiful day!”

The bear had announced a new day. Neito’s eyes snapped open as he jumped up to see the room he walked into after… what happened. “So… it wasn’t just some… horrid nightmare,” Neito muttered to himself, his eyes losing the hope that he had of hopefully waking up in his dorm room back at Yuei; not… whatever this hell was. “Well… I might as well get dressed, everyone is going to be planning a way to escape this place if I remember correctly…” Neito said, his voice harsh from just waking up.

He walked over to his closet to get a pair of fresh clothes. Once he got what he wanted to wear, he walked into his shower room and turned on the water. Thankfully, it was instant warm water. At least whoever built this place wasn’t a masochist who forced people to figure out how to get warm water.

He quickly undressed and placed his clean clothes on the counter. His body was riddled with scars from the war. Not only that but from countless tests of strength that he endured during his time at Yuei. Needless to say, he had the physique of a hero and the scars of one too. He just wished he could look at them proudly, instead of the way he currently viewed them.

He stepped into the shower and swung the curtains to the right, in order to block anyone from walking in and seeing him naked. After standing in the water stream for several minutes, he turned off the shower. He saw that there was no soap he could use to clean himself with, so all he could really do was wash off the sweat that caked his skin.

Afterwards, he got out of the shower and dried off. Getting his new, clean clothes on, he grabbed his old dirty clothes and placed them into the laundry shoot, before then getting his MonoPad and leaving his dorm room. He remembered just how ran down and old the building looked. The dorms had no reason to be as clean as they were. Perhaps Monokuma only cared about the dorms and nothing else. He couldn’t say for sure if that were the case; however, he didn’t care at the moment.

Walking down the hallway, he saw the cafeteria coming up in his vision. His legs carried him there, while he was still trying to wake himself up. Usually, around this time, he would have had Itsuka wake him up from his daze by patting him ***really*** hard against his back.

 _‘But she’s not here anymore…’_ Neito thought as he sauntered his way into the cafeteria, met with some relieved, but also worried faces. “Oi, Monoma-kun. What took you so long! It’s been nearly an hour after the morning announcement. You were supposed to be here 45 minutes ago, it’s now 7:50 am.” Manga stated, causing Neito to raise an eyebrow.

“Sorry… must’ve lost track of time in the shower,” Neito said, rubbing the back of his head with a befuddled expression. At this, Manga just sighed. Neito hadn’t been one to be on time for many things, although he prided himself in being the most ‘up to speed’ person in the dormitory. 

“Whatever. It shouldn’t have taken you nearly an hour to have a shower, Monoma. Next time, be faster.” Yui stated, her glare levelling to Neito as the blond flinched. She turned her back to everyone before taking a seat. “We should just get this started since everyone’s here now,” Yui said, her voice cold and her expression even more so.

“I concur, let us begin,” Jurota said as everyone took their seats. Neito sat to the left of Kosei, and after that, it went Ibara, Kojioru, Yosetsu, Yui, Kinoko, Setsuna, Jurota, Kaibara, Togaru, Pony, Tetsutetsu, Manga, Juzo, Reiko, Hiryu, Shihai, and Shoda. There was one empty seat to the right of Kosei. That very seat would’ve been meant for Itsuka… had she still been alive.

“Alright… so, what shall we do? Any suggestions?” Jurota asked as the table remained quiet. No one really knew what they ***could*** do. “I see… I understand. We’re in the most peculiar predicament, so… with that being said, I think that it is best that we search this entire building from head to toe. It’s only one floor, so I doubt it’ll take long.” Jurota said, causing Kosei to groan.

“Dude, that is such a bad idea. Last time that ever happened in a Danganronpa-esque scenario, someone was able to kill someone off.” Kosei stated as everyone was a bit shocked at his statement. He sounded so nonchalant, it was like, he didn’t care.

“Hey, at least show some sort of care in your tone, Tsuburaba,” Yui demanded as Kosei sighed, sitting up in a far more straight posture before putting his elbows on the table, folding his hands over his mouth and glared at everyone.

“I think we should group up. What do you think, Shishida-kun?” Kosei said as Jurota smiled. Everyone was put off by Kosei’s appearance. He seemed, to be having a bit too much fun. Although to be fair, if you were living in a situation where you knew all the ups and downs, of course, it would be somewhat fun.

“I think it’s a pleasant idea Sir Tsuburaba!” Jurota exclaimed, turning towards everyone and smiling. “I suggest we should split into groups of three, and explore the building,” Jurota said, his happy demeanour resonating with everyone at the table. It was good to see that someone was taking all of… this… well. However, when Jurota counted everyone, he became sullen for a second, before his face lit up again. “Oh, well, one of us will have to be in a group of four, but I doubt that matters.” The boy said, fixing his glasses in the process.

“Now, do we want to pick groups? Or, shall we all pick our own groups?” Jurota asked as everyone practically unanimously called to pick their own groups. Jurota was pleased to see that everyone was slowly starting to forget about this whole ‘killing game’ thing. And while they were trapped together in some sort of abandoned building/university campus, they all at least seemed like they all had each other’s backs.

After a few minutes of picking groups, it was all finalized. Neito looked at everyone, seeing who was in what group so that he could remember for later, in case someone got lost or something. _‘Let’s see… so… Ibara, Setsuna, and Pony are in group one. Shoda, Jurota, and Kojirou are all in group two. Yosetsu, Shihai, and Kinoko are all in group three. Myself, Yui, Reiko, and Kosei, who had joined us because no one else wanted him. We made up group four. Ren, Hiryu, and Tetsutetsu all made up group five, and Manga, Togaru, and Juzo made up group six. I have to say, this kinda seemed expected.’_ Neito thought, turning to face his own group.

“Aight everyone, let’s split off and go search ta’ place, then, let’s meet up here in a few hours, how ‘bout 12:30. Does everyone agree with that?” Togaru asked as a few people nodded, and others said yes, everyone split off and began to search the place to see if there was any way to escape the building. 

**[Play: Beautiful Morning]**

**-With group 1-**

Ibara, Setsuna, and Pony had decided to go looking in the kitchen. It was mostly Setsuna’s idea, on the fact that she was hungry, and wanted to see what there was for her to eat. When they entered the kitchen, she was surprised to see just how big it was. There were two island counters in the center of the room, a giant shelf of different types of foods, several fridges lined up and spaced apart by small bits of counter table-top, and two knife blocks, all packed with knives.

“Wow… I wasn’t expecting this. But that begs the question. Why does everything seem so… new in these rooms, while everywhere else seems like it’s been abandoned.” Ibara said, wiping her hand against the counter, finding barely any dust on top. “And it’s perfectly clean as well… how peculiar.”

“Well, If there is this much food, to be honest, I don’t think anyone is going to starve anytime soon.” Pony said, grabbing one of the apples from a massive pile of them. She examined it to see if anything was wrong with it. She found nothing wrong with the apple, so, as she shrugged her shoulders, she was about to take a bite out of it when Setsuna slapped it out of her hand. “Hey! What the hell was that for!” Pony said as the apple fell to the floor.

“You don’t know if the stupid bear poisoned the food or not! Remember, he wants us to fuckin’ die! So, he probably poisoned the food!” Setsuna shouted, causing Pony to give her a look of distrust.

“Guy’s, stop fighting, seriously. We came here to look around. However, you do have a point Setsuna, the food here could very well be poisoned.” Ibara said as the food pile began to rumble. The three girls took a step back and watched as Monokuma jumped out of the food, eating an apple, banana, and vine of grapes in one bite.

Ibara screamed out being scared as Monokuma landed on his feet right in front of them all. Pony helped Ibara to calm down, and Setsuna glared at the bear with anger. “What the hell do you want shit for brains.” Setsuna hissed as Monokuma cackled.

“I didn’t know someone like you could scream that hard Ibara. Oh well, anyway, I just came here to say that the food, is in fact, not poisoned, nor is it poisonous. Well, unless you’re an insect, then it’d be poisonous!” Monokuma said, laughing all the while as the three girls stared at him with disbelief. The bear rubbed a fake tear from his jagged eye before sighing. “Anyways, the food restocks after 48 hours. So the food is always fresh.” Monokuma stated as Pony folded her arms across her chest.

“And what makes you think we’ll just believe you? The last time we checked, you kidnapped us, effectively made us quirkless, killed our teachers, and then executed Itsuka in front of us. Give us one good reason to believe you.” Pony demanded as the bear just shrugged.

“Well, either you’ll die of starvation, or, someone else will poison the food. I’m only here to maintain order by keeping the rules in check and to also punish those who break said rules. So… don’t go breakin’ any of my rules, and all you will be fine by me.” Monokuma said before walking out of the kitchen.

The three girls sighed a breath of relief when the bear left. The air had gotten thick with tension, but afterward, once the bear disappeared, everything felt, normal-ish, again. “I think we’ve searched the kitchen enough…” Setsuna said, causing the other two to agree.

**-With group 2-**

Shoda, Jurota, and Kojirou walked around the school till something caught their, mostly Jurota’s, interests. “They have a library?” Jurota asked, puzzled as Shoda sighed. He knew that Jurota loved the library back at Yuei. As for Kojirou, well, he wasn’t a fan of crowded areas, however, the library always seemed empty at Yuei, so he was always at the library with Jurota, or, he was in the classroom by his lonesome.

However, the vibe that this library gave off was more… chilling than most. “Well, I guess we could check this place out. Right, you two?” Shoda asked as Jurota and Kojirou nodded. Shoda nodded in response, walking up to the doors of the Library, he pushed them open, revealing a clean, minus the moss in the floor, and sorted room full of bookshelves, a checkout desk, and several tables lined with chairs.

“I-I wasn’t e-expecting t-this…” Kojirou muttered as the other two stared in awe. The fact that this place looked almost up to date with everything being renovated and fixed was astounding to them. Each row of bookshelves was clean, and from a distance, you could barely see any dust on them. The tables looked polished, and the room smelt like fresh paper.

Not thinking any further, they all stepped in, as Jurota closed the door behind them. The three of them split off from each other and explored the room. Needless to say, each of them found interesting titles. Such as the lord of the flies, in Shoda’s case, The Hobbit, with Jurota, and It, with Kojirou. Kojirou also found a bunch of computers, albeit all without power minus the one with selective WIFI.

They all met back up in the center of the Library, each of them had a satisfied expression, and no one felt bad about the library. “So… what did we find?” Jurota asked as Kojirou spoke up first out of everyone.

“I-I found a b-book c-called IT… and a-also, a-at the back o-of the l-library; I-I found a working c-computer. T-The only i-issue i-is that the WIFI b-blocks main search engines l-like g-google.” Kojirou said as the others took it all in.

“So, there’s a working computer, but google is blocked? Jeez… Why have a working computer when google can’t be used?” Shoda asked as no one had any answers for the Ultimate Student Body. “O-OH! But I do remember one thing…” Shoda said as he fished around in his jacket and pulled out a book.

**[Play: Trapped by the ocean scent]**

The book Shoda pulled out was that of a bookmarked with some sort of weird crest they had never seen before. One of a thunderbolt and pen in the center of what appeared to be a shield. Underneath that, was the school’s name: Hope’s Peak Academy.

“H-Hey isn’t t-that the fictional s-school from N-Neito’s g-game h-he played! W-Why would a-a book b-be there i-if…” Kojirou said, his voice panicked as Jurota began to try to piece things together.

“Perhaps it is just a prank put here by this Monokuma fellow,” Jurota said as Shoda shook his head, confusing Jurota.

“No. This is a real book. This ‘Hope’s Peak Academy’ was a real thing… this is a school yearbook. But that’s not the most terrifying thing about this. Look, check this out.” Shoda said as he opened the book to show everyone a class registry list. There were some basic classes for the 21XX reserve course, but listed in the ultimate students' category, there was…

Class 77:

Yuga Aoyama: Ultimate Fashionista

Mina Ashido: Ultimate Break-dancer

Tsuyu Asui: Ultimate Marine Biologist

Tenya Iida: Ultimate Track and Field runner

Ochako Uraraka: Ultimate Astronaut

Mashirao Ojiro: Ultimate Martial Artist

Denki Kaminari: Ultimate Electrician

Eijirou Kirishima: Ultimate Wrestler

Koji Koda: Ultimate Veterinarian

Rikido Sato: Ultimate Baker

Mezou Shoji: Ultimate Tactician

Kyoka Jirou: Ultimate Punk Rocker

Hanta Sero: Ultimate Archeologist

Fumikage Tokoyami: Ultimate Detective 

Shoto Todoroki: Ultimate Fireman

Katsuki Bakugo: Ultimate Demolitionist

Izuku Midoriya: Ultimate Hope

Minoru Mineta: Ultimate Pornographer

Momo Yaoyorozu: Ultimate Affluent Progeny

Everyone had no words to say. Class 1-A… was enrolled into Hope’s peak academy? “But how is that possible?! If this school is real, then how does this make any sense if they also went to Yuei?!” Jurota said, panicked as Shoda sighed.

“That’s because if you look at the records of the school. It went under several name changes and headmasters. The first headmaster after the founder was Jin Kirigiri, then, it was a prior student by the name of Makoto Naegi, then, quirks came into existence. The next headmaster was not named in the school’s registry, But if you look at this. The next headmaster after that… was Nedzu. If you also cared to notice, it says here, that after he became the Headmaster, the school went under a name change to Yuei.” Shoda stated flipping to a history section of the book.

“Now look here, there’s more,” Shoda said, flipping to another class registry, and when the other two saw it. They nearly began to freak out.

Class 78:

Yosetsu Awase: Ultimate Welder

Sen Kaibara: Ultimate Analyst

Togaru Kamakiri: Ultimate Swordsman

Shihai Kuroiro: Ultimate Spy

Itsuka Kendo: Ultimate boxer

Yui Kodai: Ultimate Lucky Student

Kinoko Komori: Ultimate Botanist

Ibara Shiozaki: Ultimate Priest

Jurota Shishida: Ultimate Gentleman

Nirengeki Shoda: Ultimate Student Body

Pony Tsunotori: Ultimate Bull Wrangler

Kosei Tsuburaba: Ultimate Otaku

Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu: Ultimate Team Player

Setsuna Tokage: Ultimate Lizard Tamer

Manga Fukidashi: Ultimate Mangaka

Juzo Honenuki: Ultimate Construction Worker

Kojirou Bondo: Ultimate Moral Support

Neito Monoma: Ultimate Copycat

Reiko Yanagi: Ultimate Paranormal Medium

Hiryu Rin: Ultimate Lizard Trainer

Reading both Ultimate class lists shook the three of them to their very cores. This… this was something they were not expecting. Both Class’ 1-A and 1-B were students of a school, they didn’t even know about, and to top it all off, Nedzu was the headmaster and changed the name to Yuei? “T-Then t-that begs t-the question… a-are class 1-A i-in a k-killing game t-too…” Kojirou asked the question that was on the three of their minds, and they didn’t like the answer they were all coming up with.

“I say we keep this a secret from everyone. The last thing we want to do is to freak out everyone with this information. If they ask what we found. Tell them that we only found a working computer and some books.” Jurota said, his tone of voice still panicked, but significantly less so now.

“Agreed/A-Agreed.” Both Shoda and Kojirou said as Shoda walked away back to the place where he found the book. Placing it back in the spot where he took it from, he met up back with his group in hopes of trying to settle down.

**[Stop Ost]**

**-With group three-**

**[Play Beautiful Morning]**

Yosetsu Awase, Kinoko Komori, and Shihai Kuroiro had just passed the dorm rooms and made a sharp right; after turning the corner, they came across a gymnasium door. “A gym? I wonder… is it actually still useable? Or is it going to be decrepit just like the rest of this building?” Kinoko asked as Yosetsu shrugged.

“Well, let’s find out,” Yosetsu said, pushing the door handles open to reveal… a nature ruined gymnasium. Vines were coming out of the walls, roots poking out of the ground as well as moss decorating the bleachers. The only intact thing was the basketball hoops and the doors.

“Well. That… really isn’t surprising, to be honest.” Shihai muttered, his face darkening at seeing the condition of the room. It was… trashed. The fact that it was overgrown by nature went to show just how… ruined it was.

“Well… I wasn’t expecting much.” Yosetsu stated, rubbing the back of his head as they entered the room, carefully maneuvering around as to not trip on the roots on the floor. As they walked around, there wasn’t much to see, all that the place was, was just a gymnasium that nature had overtaken. However, as they were about to leave, something caught Kinoko’s eye.

“Hey, guys, why don’t we check out the storage room? I know it’s a small chance, but what if there is something in there that could help us escape this place?” Kinoko said, a smile forming on her face as the other two looked at each other with cautious concern.

“I mean, sure, why not,” Shihai said as they all walked towards the storage room. Yosetsu grabbed the handles on the door and pulled, opening the door to reveal sports equipment. A basket full of soccer balls, another basket full of basketballs, and another basket full of volleyballs. However, that wasn’t the most… interesting thing that they saw. There were the obvious polls and nets for setting up a volleyball net, however… what they saw just adjacent to that was more interesting.

“A-Are those…” Kinoko muttered as Yosetsu and Shihai sweatdropped. Just adjacent to the polls and nets were freshly sharpened two-meter long, Javelins. For some reason, everyone in the room felt a sense of dread. The javelins looked like they’d be sharp enough to cut right through a person if someone wasn’t careful, and to top things off, they were just so… readily available too…

“We cannot, under any circumstances, tell anyone about these,” Yosetsu said, his tone of voice dripping with worry as the other two agreed. With that out of the way, Yosetsu closed the door to the gymnasium storage room…

**-With Group four-**

Neito and his group had just finished searching the building for something to do when they stumbled across the medical bay door. However, unlike the other doors, it was pink with hearts on it. “Ok… this is just straight from the games… come on, couldn’t E been more original?” Kosei said, catching everyone off guard.

“What do you mean by that, Tsuburaba?” Yui asked coldly as Kosei sweat-dropped. He chuckled to himself before turning around and smiling, catching Yui off guard.

“What I’m saying, is that the mastermind, who we only know as E, has indeed played the games. This door is a carbon copy of the door from the first game, trigger happy havoc. Look, I’m just saying, whoever did this is a massive nerd, and for whatever reason, is ripping off everything from the first game with this place.” Kosei said matter-o-factly.

“Well, I think, for one, you should shut up.” Reiko deadpanned, opening the door and stepping inside. “We’re here to investigate this building, not sit around and talk each-others socks off,” Reiko said, causing everyone to shut up and enter the room.

The room was small. Well, small wasn’t the right word. It was, mediocre in size, due to the fact it could only hold two people at a time with two one-sized mattress beds. It had the correct medical equipment, IV, heart monitor, surgical tools, and cabinets filled with medicine. There was even a checklist hanging just on the door handle of the medicine cabinet. However, there were two bizarre things with the room that unsettled everyone.

**[Play: Despair Syndrome (1)]**

At the top of the cabinet were bottles that had a skull and crossbones on top, and a roll of thick rope just adjacent to the sink. On the checklist, it mentioned that there were two bottles of poison and that there was a roll of heavy-duty rope. “Why. Is. There. Poison. In. A. Medical room.” Yui grunted out as they all looked over the list.

“I honestly couldn’t tell you…” Kosei muttered as Neito and Reiko looked over the list in thought. _‘The bottle of poison is weird, yes… but… why is there rope…?’_ Neito thought as Reiko hummed in contemplation.

“I think I might know why there's rope in this room…” Reiko thought, a bead of sweat dripping down the side of her head as a worried expression came upon her face. Everyone looked at her bewildered as she spoke. “Perhaps, and this might be a long shot, but since this school was open before the times when quirks were completely normal… you don’t think people here could’ve been… experimented on…?”

The moment Reiko said this, a chill went up the group’s spines. “Y-You don’t mean… human experiments?” Yui muttered in disgust as Reiko nodded. To think that someone, no, people, would allow that based on how different someone was… was absolutely horrible.

“That would explain the poison and the rope… and the lack of an anesthetic’s on the list. Then Nedzu must have come along to try and rebuild the place for heroes to be trained at, then abandoned this place for Yuei… That’s what I hope, at least…” Neito said, his tone of voice was full of dread. The thought of someone being opened up and tested on because they had a quirk was… almost unthinkable now, but back then… that would make the most sense… since it wasn’t normal back then.

“We need to lock away the poisons… we can’t let anyone get ahold of those.” Yui stated her tone of voice now more fierce as Kosei held his hands up in the air as if to say ‘stop’.

“Now hold on. I don’t think that would be such a good idea.” Kosei said as Yui glared daggers at him, which made his shit-eating grin a tiny bit bigger. “We have no idea how Monokuma will react to that, so I think it’s best if we leave them on the top shelf. Besides, if Monokuma were to find out that we stole his poisons, how do you think he’d react?” Kosei said as Yui bit her lip.

“As much as I don’t want to agree with the perv… He’s right… Monokuma might overreact and… well, we all saw what happened to… Itsuka…” Neito muttered as Yui sighed, walking out of the medical bay, leaving Reiko, Kosei, and Neito by themselves.

“We should get going as well…” Reiko stated, leaving the room, followed by Kosei, and lastly, Neito.

**[Stop Ost]**

**-With Group five-**

**[Play: Beautiful Death** ]

Tetsutetsu, Sen, and Hiryu all stood outside of a gated off cider door. The door itself was made of cider wood, and beside it were barred off windows. They couldn’t see out of them, since they were tinted, however, it was all they needed to assume that this door was…

“This door leads to the outside, so basically, more of the campus. Meaning that even if this door opens, There’ll probably be an even bigger fence or something blocking us off from the outside world.” Sen stated as the other boys hummed to themselves.

“Maybe, I could rip the bars off with my bare hands!” Tetsutetsu shouted as he walked up to the bars and began to pull… however they didn’t budge. Tetsutetsu panted and groaned, the things wouldn’t budge as Sen and Hiryu just looked at each other, dumbfounded.

“Well… I tried.” Tetsutetsu stated, rubbing the back of his head as Sen rolled his eyes. However, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the sixth group, that being of Juzo, Manga, and Togaru. They all seem disgruntled, and, annoyed about… something.

“Hey! You guys!” Hiryu shouted, catching the group’s attention. They waved over to them as Tetsutetsu smirked, running up to them. After a few seconds, both groups had met up together. “So… what did you find? If anything at all?” Hiryu asked as Manga sighed.

“We didn’t find much of anything to tell you the truth.” The bubblehead said, rubbing the back of his neck. “We mostly found a bunch of useless junk.” He added, now facing the groups completely. “We found a photography room, but that’s about it.” Manga finished, as Togaru grimaced.

“Well, that isn’t all. We also found a gated off and broken incinerator. Monofuckwad even came along and told us that it wouldn’t turn on. There was also an automated garbage sorter, but again, we found nothin’ useful.” Togaru practically spat out, causing Sen to sigh.

“Well, then that means we should get back to the cafeteria. It’s almost 12:30 anyway.” Sen said, looking at the clock on the wall, it reading 12:15. As they started to leave, Sen couldn’t help but feel like they were being watched, and how couldn’t he feel like that when there were cameras on the ceilings and monitors in every hall, room, and bathroom.

Sen shook his head, knowing very well just what was at stake. The whole world was watching them… and as creepy as that was, it made him feel somewhat secure in knowing that there were people out there, watching him, trying to find ways to help them. But it also worried him. If people were watching them, were people really trying to find them? Or did they all believe them to be method actors in a fake show?

Sen shook his head, knowing full well that those thoughts would do nothing for him. “You ok Kaibara?” The voice of Togaru asked as Sen turned to look at the mutant quirked teen. “You seemed to have been spacing out a bit,” Togaru stated as Sen sighed.

“Yeah, I’m fine…” Sen stated as they walked up to the cafeteria to see that everyone was already there. Sen smirked, finding his spot from this morning and sitting down at the table. Everyone looked either tired or annoyed. To Sen, it seemed like nothing important had come up.

“Well, everyone. How were your explorations?” Jurota asked the group as no one answered. A few minutes of awkward silence overtook the table before finally, Jurota spoke up again. “Alright, well, if no one is willing to outright say what they found, let’s start with the first person of each group. So that would be Ibara, Shoda, Yosetsu, Neito, Tetsutetsu, and then Manga. Does that sound good to you all?” Jurota said as everyone hummed.

“If that is the case then I shall start first,” Ibara said, brushing her bangs back from her eyes. “My group ventured into the kitchen. We encountered a bountiful amount of food. Food that Monokuma stated will be refilled every 48 hours. Meaning we will not go hungry. Though I doubt it is safe to eat, it is, by all means, the only food in this building.” Ibara stated as everyone nodded.

“So Monofuck has a limitless supply of food… alright, so that might tell us a bit more about our captor,” Togaru stated as everyone at the table nodded.

“I don’t think so. Although I believe that we are in good hands, for the most part. Monokuma seems to have no interest in harming us unless we break his rules, or… god forbid… someone murders someone else… I think Monokuma has our best interests intact… for the most part.” Ibara said the last part quietly so that no one heard her.

“Well, whatever. I’m not gonna complain about infinite food.” Yosetsu said with a smile on his face as a few people murmured and spoke quietly with each other.

“Well, I think we should continue this conversation. I and my group went to the library in the building and we found several good books, however, there was one working computer. This computer, however, was… limited in its useability.” Shoda said as everyone nodded. “We also found something else… but… I think that it’s best to keep that for another time.” Shoda stated, causing a few people to raise their eyebrows in confusion.

“Why keep it a secret?” Ibara asked as Shoda sighed. “Well? Why not tell us?” Ibara asked, this time in a more, demanding tone.

**[Play: New Classmates of the Dead]**

“Look, ok, fine. There was a book that said that class 1-A is also trapped in a Killing Game. We aren’t the only ones.” Shoda barked. This caught everyone else off guard. The fact that they weren’t the only class stuck in this was… refreshing to hear, but… at the same time… it was disheartening.

“You mean to tell us that… 1-A… is stuck in this too…” Neito said. He usually always wanted to jab at 1-A for their failures, but now, this was far more different. “Then that means… Yuei is…” Neito muttered as someone else at the table spoke out the words he so desperately didn’t want to say.

“Yuei is gone… all of our hard work is gone, because we all got kidnapped, our teachers and the staff were killed, and we are stuck in this Killing Game, but it isn’t just us, it’s also class 1-A. Did I get that right?” Yui said, mortified as the thought alone was too hard to handle.

“W-Well regardless… I think that we-“ Shoda started, only to be stopped by Yui calmly getting up from the table and leaving. “Kodai-san, where are you going?” Shoda asked, only to get no reply. She continued to walk away, until they all heard a door slam, presumably her dorm room slamming shut.

“W-We t-told you i-it wasn’t a-a good i-idea…” Kojirou said as everyone now looked dreary. After a reveal like that… it was too much to bear.

“We can’t just let this bring us down… We still have families out there… right? People who want us safe! So we need to stick together. Alright!” Pony said, lifting the atmosphere a bit.

**[Play: Beautiful Lie Ver. B]**

“Whatever tricks Monokuma has or lies he wants to spew to us, we will not stand for it.” Pony called out, determined. “Shoda-kun, for all we know, that book could be fake, and Class 1-A is out there trying to help us too. So let’s not believe that crap Monokuma’s trying to feed us, and let’s try and keep this meeting as peaceful as possible, ok?” Pony asked as Shoda smiled.

“Yeah, you’re right. But… that begs the question. Did anyone else find something important to share?” Shoda asked as Yosetsu shrugged.

“I mean, not really, the gymnasium was just a bunch of vines, roots, with some basketballs and junk,” Yosetsu said, Shihai and Kinoko nodding to confirm his statement. Kosei sighed, looking at Neito with a side glare, catching his attention.

“Oh, yeah, the medical bay… nothing really. Just medicine and some beds for people who get hurt.” Neito stated, getting a nod from Reiko and a grin from Kosei. “That’s pretty much it. There’s even a check-list to check if everything is there.” Neito said with a smile as everyone nodded.

“Good to know,” Jurota said with a nod as he looked at Tetsutetsu. “What about your group?” Jurota asked the steel boy, much to the boy's dismay.

“Well, we found the door to the outside, but it’s barred off… so… no dice,” Tetsutetsu said as everyone sighed. “But, on the flip side, we did meet up with group six… although… nothing was really found with them either,” Tetsutetsu said, causing Manga to groan.

“You colossal idiot. That was my job to say!” Manga muttered, only to sigh afterward. “We found a photography room… but that’s just about it.” Manga stated, causing Togaru to pipe up.

“Oi! There was that incinerator and garbage sorter too!” Togaru stated, causing Manga to turn around and look at him.

“I would have mentioned it if it was important, but it isn’t, so I didn’t. Besides, the incinerator is broken, and there is nothing we can do with it.” Manga said, turning back around to the group. “That basically sums up our search. The only thing of note in the medical bay was it having medical equipment, constantly refreshing food, a book that may or may not be true, and a partially functioning computer. In other words, a complete waste of time.” Manga stated, catching a few people off guard.

“So… the meeting is over… right?” Shihai asked as a few people wondered the same thing. “I’ll take that as a yes. Well, if you excuse me, I’m getting some lunch.” Shihai said, getting up from the table as everyone slowly departed from the table, only leaving Neito and Kosei alone.

“So… I guess that’s it. See ya later Monoma-kun.” Kosei said, walking away to his dorm room. Neito couldn’t help but think about the meeting and the overall mood of the scenario. He shook his head before getting up from his chair.

“I should get some rest… I got barely any sleep last night.” The blond muttered, getting up from his seat and walking to his dorm room. Opening his dorm room door, he flopped onto his bed and closed his eyes. He needed to rest, he needed to be energized and while he knew he needed to be aware of his surroundings at all times, he knew, that it was only a matter of time before things went south, so he needed to be ready for it.

With sound slowly becoming void to him, he drifted off into a light nap…

**\- To Be Continued -**


	5. Chapter 1 - 2: Dying Hope, Blooming Despair - Daily Life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, before we begin the chapter, I want to explain something about this one. Specifically, The first half of this chapter is a massive Free Time event. Would you like an explanation of this?   
> Yes <
> 
> No
> 
> Good! For this half of this chapter, we will see a multitude of different characters' perspectives, then, the second half of the chapter will be with Neito, our Main Protagonist. I hope this makes sense to everyone. Ok, with that out of the way, let us move on!

Chapter 1 – 2: Dying Hope, Blossoming Despair – Daily Life 

**[Play: Beautiful Death]**

The time was 1:15 pm. Everyone was currently minding their own business. Pony Tsunotori, with hunger taking her mind and body over, had decided to go to the kitchen to get herself something to eat. This was because Setsuna slapped the apple out of her hand from exploring the decrepit university campus. She had found the ingredients in the kitchen to make a sandwich, a ham and cheese sandwich to be precise.

It didn’t take long for her to make it; however, there was a part of her that made her feel like she didn’t want to eat anything. Was it because of the situation she found herself in? Probably, however, needs were more important than wants. So, she ate the sandwich anyway. “Hey, Tsunotori-san.” A voice called out, catching her off guard.

She turned to the entranceway to see Shoda standing there, a smile on his face. She breathed a sigh of relief, all though she didn’t know why? Shoda was harmless, and besides, she knew that no one would kill anyone; why? Because everyone here were all close to one another. That’s why. She refused to believe that anyone here could have, or would have, the heart to kill someone that they’ve known for a full year. “Heya Shoda-kun. What’s up?” Pony asked as the boy sighed.

“Well, I was wondering, do you think you could help me make something for everyone? I mean, I know it’s a long shot, but I think we could make something to boost everyone’s spirits. I was thinking like a massive meal of sorts.” Shoda said, causing Pony to ponder about the idea. _‘I mean, we could, but...’_ “I mean, you don’t have to if you don’t want to; It’s just something I thought would be nice,” Shoda said, smiling a bit less.

“Well… putting it that way’s gonna make me feel guilty, but… I guess we could. I don’t see the issue, just… not right now. We’d need to do that early in the morning so that I have the drive to do something.” Pony stated as Shoda nodded.

“Understandable. But hey… do you think you can make me a sandwich? I noticed that you were already making a second one… so…?” Shoda asked, his cheeks turning a light pink from embarrassment. Pony giggled before putting one hand on her hip.

“Sure, why not! I don’t see any issue with it.” Pony said, a smile now on her face as Shoda looked away in embarrassment. Despite his bravado during the investigation of the indoor campus, Shoda was still a normal person, with needs and wants, as well as a person who could get embarrassed quite easily.

For a while, they stood in silence as she made him a sandwich, when suddenly Shoda spoke up again. “Yeah know… Do you really think… someone could…” Shoda didn’t need to say the last bit of his sentence to get the point across. Pony didn’t want to believe it, but…

“No… We’re all too close to one another for someone to just… murder someone.” Pony said, finishing the creation of Shoda’s sandwich. Passing the food to the small, grey-haired boy, he smiled in thanks and took a bite. “Besides, what makes you say that anyway?” Pony asked as Shoda swallowed the bite he took from the sandwich.

“Well… it’s just… what Yui said at the meeting. She kinda has some merit…”

**[Play: Death Wish]**

Pony couldn’t believe what she was hearing. _‘Does he… actually believe what she said…?’_

**_“It is inevitable for someone to kill another to escape this place. We might have been close friends in the dorms, but you saw what happened to Itsuka. You saw what happened to Vlad-Sensei and the other staff. Even Nedzu wasn't safe from that thing's wrath. If you think for one moment that we can make it all out of here alive without another one of us going down, you are all blinded by faith. Faith that will allow us to continue living together in peace when I can almost guarantee you; it won't last for long."_ **

“Y-You can’t be serious?! You actually believe what she said?” Pony asked the boy as Shoda turned away from the blonde.

“L-look… I… I just think that what she says has some merit. What I mean is that… not all of us are going to be able to make it out alive…” Shoda said, looking at Pony with a half sincere stare. Pony was in disbelief. The fact that he even said that was…

“What do you mean by… that?” Pony asked the boy nervously as Shoda looked away before letting out a deep sigh.

“What I mean is that… what if someone breaks the rules like… like… like what Itsuka did. What if that bear kills one of us out of boredom! Or… or what if… what if someone does kill someone else? I-I…” Shoda, barely keeping his composure, lowered his head to the floor, a conflicted expression on his face.

“Shoda-kun… You don’t have to worry so much. We’ve all known each other for so long; I doubt anyone here would kill anyone for any reason. No matter what that bear says, we’re stronger than it.” Pony said, placing a hand on his right shoulder as the small grey-haired boy looked up at her.

**[Play: Beautiful days]**

“Ya know… sometimes you’re a bit too optimistic. B-but, that’s what makes you… you. I like that, ya’ know. Never change.” Shoda muttered as he looked back up and flashed her a smile. “But yea know what… you’re also right. Yeah, I have no doubt within my mind that no one will kill!” Shoda said as Pony smiled, hoping that he wasn’t lying.

“Now, how about we go try and hang out with the others. I think they need some cheering up too.” Pony said as Shoda nodded with the notion.

**Meanwhile… somewhere else in the school…**

“Yo! Kuroiro-kun!” A voice rang out into the hallway as the titular boy turned around to see the form of Yosetsu come up to him. “Hey, wanna hang out! I’m kinda bored, and Kinoko wanted to be alone for a bit, so… my next best choice is you!” The boy said as Shihai shrugged.

“Sure… why not? I got nothing else better to do.” Shihai said, his voice sounded like he was completely disinterested; however, his expression betrayed that notion, said expression being that of a smile.

“Hell yeah! Let’s head to my dorm; I got a ***bunch*** of movies we can pick from!” Yosetsu said, his smile radiating the entire hallway. Shihai couldn’t help but sigh as they went to his room.

Shihai and Yosetsu spent 30 minutes trying to pick a movie, they picked one called ‘Terminator.’ 2 hours later, they finished the movie. 

“I mean, it wasn’t bad, but…” Shihai muttered as Yosetsu seemed to look a bit annoyed. “The acting was fine, but I really… really didn’t like the Terminator's character,” Shihai said as Yosetsu leaned back against the wall beside his bed.

“I actually liked the Terminator as a character, but eh… whatever,” Yosetsu said, looking over at the time. “Jeez, it’s already 2 pm? Damn… yea know… even with this stupid Killing game imposed on us, this kinda just feels like the normal dorm life back at Yuei.” Yosetsu said as Shihai looked at him weirdly.

“What are you talking about? We’re being watched constantly by a psychotic bear.” Shihai said as Yosetsu arched his right eyebrow in confusion.

“Your point? Nedzu wasn’t exactly sane last time I checked.” Yosetsu said as Shihai lifted his finger to respond, only to drop it back down again when he found he couldn’t. “See, you can’t even come up with an argument to that,” Yosetsu said triumphantly as the completely black teen sighed.

“Ok, ok, fine. But Nedzu never wanted to kill us or make us kill each other, now did he!” Shihai said, finally finding a point to counter Yosetsu with as said teen sighed.

“True, that’s fair. But besides that, honestly, nothing has really changed all that much. I mean, we can’t use our quirks, but still…” Yosetsu said, putting his hands behind his head, looking up at the surveillance camera in his room. “I believe that… deep down, whoever’s doing this, will get what they deserve when we get out of here,” Yosetsu said with a confident smirk on his face as Shihai nodded.

“Yeah, at least we can agree on that,” Shihai said, glaring at the camera as he heard a yawn coming from behind him.

“Well, I’m gonna get some shut-eye before the supper meet up; see ya in a bit Kuroiro-kun,” Yosetsu said as Shihai nodded, getting up from the floor and walking out of the dorm room.

**Meanwhile… somewhere else in the school…**

The library was quiet. No one could be heard talking, no one could be heard walking, and no one could even be heard tapping away on a cellphone. The last one was because there were no cellphones allowed on the campus grounds; however, in a way, that was something Ibara could get used to. She was never one to like cellphones, however…

“UGH!!! This is so booooring! This book isn’t even that good!” Setsuna cried out as she hung the book by the edge of the spine. Ibara sighed, closing her own book while levelling an annoyed glare Setsuna’s way.

“Then if you don’t like it, why don’t you get another book, instead of needlessly complaining to us?” Ibara stated, her tone of voice becoming much more stern as the words came out of her mouth. Meanwhile, Reiko could only giggle at the girls’ bickering.

“Then how about we talk about something? We never really get a chance to talk about stuff alone without someone butting in. Even though the dorms were much comfier, having a whole school campus to ourselves is rather nice.” Reiko commented as Setsuna looked at her with an annoyed glance.

“Yeah, until you remember a two-face Bernstein bear is walking around who would love nothing more than to see us dead in some gruesome way!” Setsuna shot back as Reiko groaned.

“Seriously, sometimes you can never accept the good side of bad situations.” Ibara chided as Setsuna folded her arms and sat crisscross in the chair she was in. She puffed out her cheeks as they began to glow a slight reddish hew.

“Regardless, let’s change topics. Do any of you have boyfriends?” Ibara asked as Setsuna groaned.

“I don’t swing that way, vines. I thought I told you that?” Setsuna said, causing Ibara to roll her eyes.

“Well, that’s… how do I say this without insulting you… unfortunate…” Ibara said, causing Setsuna to side-glance her.

“What’s so wrong with liking women as a girl? Something in that dumb book of yours calls it ‘unholy’ or whatever the hell?” Setsuna asked abrasively as Reiko sighed loud enough to get their attention.

“Can you two go 1 minute without arguing with each other about your beliefs? Setsuna, has anyone caught your interest?” Reiko asked as the titular greenette hummed.

“Well, there was that Yaoyorozu chick from 1-A, but that Todoroki boy’s got her wrapped around his Icey finger. Tsunotori-san’s caught my eye for a while now, but…” Setsuna said, rubbing the back of her neck as Ibara looked at her with a curious gaze.

“You don’t know how to approach her?” Ibara asked as Setsuna snapped her fingers with a knowing look. Ibara sighed, looking down at the floor before looking back at the greenette. “Well, I could help, despite me not agreeing with the way you live your life. It cannot be helped.” Ibara said as Setsuna sighed.

“Well, at least you aren’t a massive jackass about it like some people,” Setsuna said as Reiko clapped her hands together to get the pair's attention.

“Now that we got that settled, what about you, Shiozaki-san?” Reiko asked as Ibara covered her mouth.

“Well, I guess It goes without saying, but… I do have a boyfriend.” Ibara said as Setsuna became starry-eyed.

“Really! Come on; you have to tell us! Please tell us!” Setsuna said as she fawned over the vine-haired girl, who could only look away annoyed.

“What my sex life details does not matter to you, Tokage-san,” Ibara said as Reiko and Setsuna gasped. Ibara arched her eyebrow before realizing what she had said, causing her cheeks to redden almost instantly.

“Now, hold on a second. Isn’t sex before marriage frowned upon in Christianity?” Setsuna said cheekily as Ibara’s blush grew wider, causing Setsuna to smirk.

“I-I… W-Who s-said I-I wasn’t a v-virgin!” Ibara stammered out as Reiko folded her arms under her chest; a small smirk appeared on her face as she shook her head.

“I already know you don’t need to lie, Shiozaki-san.” The Ultimate Spirit Median said as Ibara’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“Kosei better not have said anything, or I will-“ Ibara half-shouted as she stopped herself midsentence, the blush on her face growing tenfold, making her whole face grow red. “YOU JERK!” Ibara shouted, embarrassed, before running out of the library as Reiko and Setsuna giggled to each other.

“Guess she isn’t as precious as she made herself out to be!” Setsuna barked out, laughing as Reiko wiped a tear from her eye, her face turning back to her normal emotionless one.

“Well, at least now she can’t say that kind of stuff, knowing full well she isn’t as innocent as she has made herself out to be,” Reiko said as Setsuna nodded.

“So… you doin’ anything later today Yanagi-san?” Setsuna asked as Reiko rolled her eyes, standing up from her chair before smirking at the greenette.

“No, but if you want to do something later, we can. Up to you, though.” Reiko said, causing Setsuna to make an ‘O’-shaped expression with her mouth. The way Reiko said that made it almost seem like…

“You don’t mean…” Setsuna mumbled as the white-haired girl sighed, grabbing Setsuna by the shoulder and helping her up, before lightly kissing her on the cheek. This caused Setsuna’s heart to race.

“Alright, you got yourself a deal~!” The greenette said in a more lecherous tone of voice. Meanwhile, Kosei had been hiding behind the bookshelf, snickering to himself as he walked away. Little had any of them known, he had been listening on the whole conversation, and now he had some pretty good blackmail to use on the three whenever he wanted.

**-Free Time Event ended-**

**[Play: Beautiful Death]**

Neito blinked slowly as he rubbed his eyes. He couldn’t get the sleep out of them just yet. Something was bugging him, more than normal. Even though he didn’t get enough sleep, he felt more energized than he did this morning when he had a full night’s sleep. He always heard that power naps always made the person more energetic, but this was different.

He sighed, knowing very well he was just overthinking things; however, a part of him believed that it was necessary despite all of that. Just as he opened his dorm-room door, he heard the familiar chimes of a school bell ring in the hallway.

***DING. DONG. BING. BONG.***

“Ahem, this is a school announcement. It is now officially 10 PM. As such, it is now considered nighttime. However, before you go to bed, please meet in the auditorium for a special surprise!”

The monitor turned off as Monokuma’s voice etched itself into Neito’s mind. _‘That asshole… what does he want now?’_ Neito thought as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. There was no time to drag his feet around, not after Monokuma came on the announcements. Whenever that bear wants something, you better do it, or else you die. That’s what he remembered when playing that V3 game.

_‘Damn that bear… If I had my quirk… no, best not to think about that, I have to get to the auditorium.’_ Neito thought as he stretched his arms and back out before walking to said location. He was nervous; what if the bear was going to kill someone in front of everyone because they broke a rule? What if Monokuma was going to decapitate another teacher's corpse? What if… what if he had displayed Itsuka’s corpse in the auditorium as a gruesome reminder?

_‘No… stop thinking like that! Get yourself together! This is no time to think like that! I need to face whatever Monokuma has in store with open arms and learn how to work my way around it! I can’t show him that I’m weak, he’s just a villain, and sooner or later, the other pro-heroes will come and save us! I just know it!’_ Neito thought as he found himself standing in front of the auditorium doors.

“Hey, Monoma-kun?” A voice called from behind him as Neito turned around to see Sen, who had a concerned look on his face. “You alright? You look like you’ve seen a ghost or somethin’.” Sen said as Neito shook his head.

“No,… you just spooked me, that’s all,” Neito said, placing a hand on his chest to calm himself. Sen smirked, running a hand through his hair as he looked away abashedly.

“I see… well, what do you think Monokuma wants? It’s been nearly a week since we’ve been here, aside from the first three days where we did nothing, he seemed content with us, but now he wants something…” Sen said as he turned back to look at Neito, who had a puzzled look on his face.

“Well… it could be something simple like a normal assembly, or…” Neito stopped himself; he didn’t want to speak his dark thoughts. He just knew that something good wasn’t going to come from this. For all he knew, Monokuma could just be checking up on them, taunt them, and go back from whence he came.

“Well, let’s find out, shall we?” Sen said as he pushed open the doors. Neito followed him in there as the rest of the class trickled in afterward. The air was tense, and a few people began to whisper with one another.

“All right, you black and white fuck! Where are ya!” Togaru bellowed as the room went silent. The aforementioned mantis boy tapped his foot impatiently as nothing happened.

“Where is he? He called us down here, and then he doesn’t have the guts to show up? Honestly… kinda pathetic.” Yosetsu said, his tone more cocky than usual.

“Don’t get your hopes up, Sir Awase, for all we know, he could be planning something. Best we keep our guard up in case he tries something.” Jurota stated as everyone watched each other’s backs. The room remained silent… until…

**[Play: To Survive]**

“Sorry to keep you all waiting! But I needed to grab something important!” The shrill voice of Monokuma said as a hatch in the floor opened up, revealing what seemed to be a giant canon, with the string attached and on fire, along with Monokuma sitting on top of said canon.

“W-What the fuck is that!” Togaru shouted as the rest of the class began to panic.

“I-Is he g-going to kill us!” Kinoko shrieked in fright as she clutched her hood over her head.

“H-Hey! This isn’t funny ya’ know!” Kosei muttered as he clutched his hair. “This REALLY isn’t funny!” the brunette hollered as the bear laughed.

“I CANNON-NOT wait for this… thing… to… BLOW!” Monokuma shouted as the canon erupted with a massive boom. However, instead of a massive explosion and a cannonball, what came out of the canon was…

“Are those… headphones and… DVD cases?” Nirengeki asked as no one could answer because they were all so confused. This was beyond normal, beyond common sense, and beyond a reasonable explanation.

**[Play: Boy’s life in Despair]**

“Now, with that out of the way!” Monokuma said as the canon was lowered under the stage. “I’ve been waiting for what seems like two days for you shmucks to up and kill someone. But it seems the tension and pressure alone won’t be enough.” The monochromatic bear said as he gained a few glares from the crowd.

“These, however, should do the trick. Think of this as your very first MOTIVE!” Monokuma announced, a bellowing laugh up roaring from the demon as everyone stared at the cases on the floor. Each of them were marked with names on them, along with a pair of headphones.

Neito stared at his, a mixture of disbelief and anger on his face as he contemplated what the bear had said. _‘A motive… a motive for murder… no, I won’t watch this DVD, if I do, that’s just giving in to him…’_ Neito thought.

“We’ll never do this stupid killing game, no matter how much you egg us on! No motive in the world will get us to murder anyone, for any reason! You can’t make us!” Tetsutetsu shouted as the bear laughed.

“These videos are a mandatory watch! If you don’t watch them, then it would mean you’re breaking a rule! And you all know what happens when someone breaks a rule~!” The bear mocked as the image of Itsuka’s skewered corpse flashed in his memory. He cringed; he couldn’t unsee it. It remained in his memory.

“Now, go back to your dorm rooms and play these tapes. You don’t want to miss them!” Monokuma said before disappearing underneath the floorboards. Everyone in the room had various expressions on their faces, each one more emotional than the last. Each of the students picked up their own personal DVDs and headsets before walking back to their dorm rooms.

Neito sat on his bed as he loaded up his DVD into the disc player in his room. The screen flashed to life, and the video began.

**[Play: Welcome to Despair]**

A video of Neito’s parents appeared on the screen as his eyes went wide. “Hello, son,” The father said with a proud tone of voice. “We wanted to send our best regards to you after what had happened in that little… event… that happened in Jakku. We’re so glad to see our son become a hero!” The father said again, his face forming into a gentle smile.

“We’re proud of you son. Despite what we said to you in the past, we now fully believe in you! Do your best, son! Make us proud, make the family name proud once again. Fulfill the dream we once had; we trust that you can do it!” The mother said as Neito felt a tear in his eye form. And then… something strange happened.

“Ah yes, the Monoma family! Such a prideful, wonderful family that cared about their community and family more than anything. They lived such a beautiful life; it would be a shame if something bad happened to them!” The voice of Monokuma spoke over the video as Neito’s eyes widened. 

**[Play: Tropical Despair]**

A picture of the Monoma family chained, gagged, and suspended above what seemed to be a massive pot of boiling lava appeared on the screen. “Oh no! what’s this! It seems as if the Monoma family is in parrel! Oh, what will you do, Neito Monoma! The only way to ensure your family's safety is for a murder to take place! Will you be the one to bloody your hands? Or will you wait for someone else to do it? Or will anyone even do it! You only got 24hrs before they get sent to a fiery grave! Make your choice now!” Monokuma said as the screen cut to black.

Neito had no idea what to do! His eyes were wide, his mouth hung open, and he screamed so loudly that it deafened him. He clutched the sides of his head as he bent over, looking at the floor. His family was in danger, and he couldn’t do anything about it.

“ARGGGHHHHHHH!” He shouted, his thoughts barely being able to process themselves as his heart raced in panic. He could hear others screaming, crying, swearing, and other noises that sounded like his other classmates were in distress. Out of all the bad things to happen, why this? Why his family! His mother and his father. The family he cared so much about was now being held prisoner, and to ensure their safety, he had to commit the most heinous of sins.

_‘N-No… M-My mom… my dad… I-I… I HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!’_ Neito thought as he clawed at his hair, gritting his teeth; his eyes went wide as he could feel the tears pouring out of them. However, something appeared in his mind. Something that pulled him back together. It was… a memory… of Itsuka…

“ _Remember Monoma-kun. No matter what happens, no matter who gets hurt in this war, our families are what we are going to depend on after this. But remember, heroes, don’t kill. Not even if the villain we are arresting murdered babies. It’ll only make us just as bad as them.”_

_‘That’s right… I won’t let this damn bear get the best of me!’_ He refused to let the bear get to him. However, he couldn’t say the same about the others. “Oh god… the others. What did their videos in tale? What if… what if someone’s planning to kill someone already… this could’ve been the straw that broke the camel’s back!” Neito said in near split realization.

For the rest of that night, Neito Monoma tried his best to calm himself down; if he couldn’t sleep, he wouldn’t be able to think straight tomorrow. For his sanity, he flopped back on his bed and attempted to get a good night’s rest, despite knowing that it was impossible.

**\- To Be Continued -**


	6. Chapter 1 - 3: Dying Hope, Blossoming Despair - Daily Life

There was a pitch-black room eloped with shadows as the person behind the killing game sat idly at the monitors. A huge smile was plastered on their face as they stared at the screen. “Ah… the reaction to their parents was delightful! Absolutely despairing in every sense of the word~!” The person said, leaning back in their chair as they hummed to themselves quietly. “I wonder who’ll take the bait… I cannot wait to see!” As they said that, they spun around in the chair before quietly returning back to watch the show unfold. As they did so, another person joined them, standing beside them.

“I want to watch too! Come on, let me watch!” The other person said as the one in the chair rolled their eyes.

“Fine, but only if you say the magic word~!” The person said as the other one sighed in a tone of defeat.

“Please… pretty please with a despair-filled cherry on top?” The other one said as a smile came onto the person in the chair's face.

“Ok! Let’s watch together. We gotta thank… uh what was their name again?” The one in the chair asked as the one beside them tilted their head.

“I think they wanted us to call them E… we gotta thank E later!” The person said as the one beside them leaped up on the chair and sat on the person's lap, despite them both being the same height.

Chapter 1 – 3: Dying Hope, Blossoming Despair – Daily Life

**[Play: REAL/FICTION]**

Tossing and turning could be heard in a lone room. It was as if whoever the person was, wasn’t having an easy time falling asleep. No one could blame the person, because after all, who could sleep peacefully knowing their family was in danger? No one could. Therefore, it would be useless to say that anyone was able to sleep last night.

The morning announcement came and went, and Neito Monoma was having a tough time keeping his eyes open. For 90% of the night, he couldn’t sleep, and when he did manage to fall asleep, even if it was only slightly, he was abruptly taken out of it when the morning announcement came on. So naturally, he only had around 30 minutes of actual sleep, meaning he was both extremely testy and jumpy today.

“I wonder if… anyone else could sleep last night?” Neito muttered to himself, trying to keep himself awake as he began gathering clothes to take with him into the bathroom after he had his morning shower. Even though they were replicas of the pair of clothes he was wearing right now, he wondered where they were being washed. The reason for this was because every room had its own laundry shoot. Some sort of machine must connect each room’s shoot.

He thought about escaping through the hatch; however, the slot was too thin and too small for anyone, even Kinoko, to fit in. The plan was squashed before it could even enter the testing phase. He assumed that Monokuma also delivered the clean clothes to the room, so catching the mastermind off guard and taking the keys from them wouldn’t be possible either.

“I think I need to forget about that for now. I need to focus on waking up and meeting with everyone.” The blond said to himself as he walked into the shower room. Just like the last time, it was a long and water wasteful shower. He used it to wake himself up, and that was about it. For 10 minutes, he stood under the water, thinking about his parents and how they must’ve felt right now.

 _‘Mom… Dad… I’ll save you; don’t you worry…’_ Neito thought as he sighed, turning off the water and getting out. He quickly dried off and got dressed; afterward, he threw his laundry down the shoot before leaving his dorm, when suddenly, he bumped into someone.

“Yowch!” The voice was feminine and also recognizable. Sitting on the floor, rubbing the back of her head, was Kinoko. “Watch where you’re going, will ya?” The brunette complained as Neito helped her up.

“Sorry… just in a bit of a daze this morning. Couldn’t sleep…” Neito said, causing the small girl to look away from the blonde. “You too?” Neito asked as she nodded, a tear coming to her eye as the boy couldn’t help but feel bad for the brunette.

“My poor mushrooms… Mom… Dad…” She shivered before turning to face the end of the hall. “I should stop thinking about it. The more I do, the worse it’ll be for me later.” Kinoko said as the brunette walked away, leaving Neito all by his lonesome. He could understand the girl's pain; if it hadn’t been for the stupid bear, then everything would’ve been fine, but…

 _‘Best not to think like that. I’m not going to give in, no matter what Monokuma throws at us. I refuse to harm a single one of my friends…’_ Neito thought as he made his way to the cafeteria. The only people who were in the cafeteria were Shihai, Ibara, Setsuna, Kinoko, who just arrived, and himself. “Good morning Monoma-kun, how was your sleep?” Setsuna asked, her tone of voice drained but still with some energy left.

“Not good… I could barely keep my head from filling with… thoughts…” Neito said as he slumped next to Shihai, who gave him a nervous glance. “I can’t do this… my Mom, Dad, my family, hurt, chained up to the walls and beaten. Who would do something like this! Why!” Neito said, slamming his fist on the table, causing a few people to jump. 

“Monoma-kun… please, calm down. I’m sure everything will be alright.” Ibara stated, causing Neito to look up at the religious girl with ire in his eyes.

“YOU DON’T KNOW THAT!” He shouted in response, causing Ibara to look down at the floor in shame. Balling up his fists, he took in a sharp intake of breath before letting it out with a stutter. He was angry, confused, and worst of all, in despair.

“If it’s any help, Monoma-kun, my parents looked like they were beaten with an iron rod. My father was even strung up on a cross, using rope, of course. My families religious, but I’m not, so seeing them like that made me angry. But you need to control that anger so that you don’t do anything reckless.” Shihai commented, catching everyone’s attention.

“He’s right ya’ know,” Setsuna stated sharply as Neito took in another deep breath before letting it out again. “You don’t have to stress about it too much. I doubt that what the bear supposedly did even happened. Monokuma is a psychopath, but I doubt he had the time and resources to do what he… supposedly did.” Setsuna said each passing word fainted into a whisper as she began to worry even more than normal.

“HELLO, EVERYONE!” The booming voice of Jurota sounded as he walked into the cafeteria, everyone else in tow as people began to sit around the table. “How was everyone’s rest last night?” The beast-man asked as Yui glared at him.

“We didn’t, how could we when our parents and loved ones were chained to walls, beaten to the point of unconsciousness, and dangling above a potential volcano!” Yui snapped as Jurota sighed.

“Well… I…” He started before looking away from the group as he sat down. “What about potential escape plans?” Jurota switched straight to the meat of the situation; the sudden change of topic caused everyone to clam up almost instantly. Yui huffed out an annoyed sigh as she reclined back into her chair.

“Well, does anyone have any ideas, because otherwise, this meeting was pointless.” Yui said, folding her arms over her chest, causing Kosei to leer at her.

“Well, what about you, Kodai-san? Do **you** have any ideas? Or are you just spitballing to divert attention away from your outburst?” Kosei said as Pony spoke up.

“Hey, Tsuburaba-kun? Why are you acting like a little shit as of late? You’ve never acted like this before.” Pony stated, causing Kosei to chuckle to himself. Neito remembered that before this stupid Killing game, Kosei had always been quiet, reserved, and sometimes commented about how a girl looked, which would be met by a slap to the face by… Itsuka.

“Yeah, Kosei, why is that?” Neito questioned as the boy in question leaned back, relaxing his shoulders as he kicked his feet up onto the table.

“Just practicing my inner Kokichi, that’s all,” Kosei responded, causing Neito to shiver in disgust. This caused Pony to look at him with a concerned expression, catching Neito’s attention.

“Why’d you shiver like that Monoma-kun?” Setsuna asked as Rin spoke up.

“From what I can tell, this Kokichi persona is someone that you know, perhaps a character in a show or game you’ve watched or played?” Rin asked as Neito let out a hefty sigh.

“Kokichi Ouma is a character in Danganronpa V3 or the fifty-third killing game… He pretended to be one of the many people who ended the world before the age of Quirks, and he also pretended to be the bastard who set up that Killing game when it was really a person by the name of Tsumugi Shirogane and a company called Team Danganronpa, who went bankrupt 30 years ago.” Neito explained, catching everyone off guard.

“Wow, Monoma-kun, that was quite the plot dump, don’t ‘cha think?” Kosei said as Neito huffed out an annoyed sigh.

“Well, that shit doesn’t matter. Getting the fuck out of here does.” Togaru interrupted, disrupting the pointless conversation at its core before slamming his fist on the table. “The faster we can get out of this hell hole, the better.” The praying mantis man said as a few people, namely Kojiro, Tetsutetsu, and Yosetsu, mumbled in agreement.

“But that begs the question, is escape even possible at this point?” Ibara asked, causing everyone to look at her with confusion.

**[Play: Trapped by the ocean scent]**

“E-Eh? Wh-What’s that s-supposed t-to mean!” Kinoko sputtered out as Ibara sighed in what seemed like crude annoyance.

“I mean what I said. What if Monokuma set this up to where a certain amount of people **have** to die before he even gives us the option of there even being the slightest bit of a chance that we can escape.” Ibara said, a cold chill now hovering around in the room as all eyes landed on her.

“What do you mean by that! You can’t possibly be saying that we can’t escape here!! Are you crazy woman!” Shihai demanded as Kosei snickered.

“She actually has some merit in saying that,” Kosei said as he sat up in his chair. “In all the Danganronpa games, the mastermind didn’t make it easy for them to escape, only giving them a single hint to escape after over half the cast of those games kicked the bucket,” Kosei said, his eyes narrowing as Yui slammed her fist on the table.

“If I hear one more word come out of anyone’s mouth about those goddamned games, I’m going to punch them square in the face. Those games are just that, games, false, fiction! They didn’t happen!” Yui shouted as Kosei shook his head.

“No, no, they weren’t. Did you not remember the revelation we made at the end of the day before the day we found out that our parents were revealed to be kidnapped? Yuei Highschool used to be called Hopes Peak Academy. Funnily enough, the main plot of Danganronpa just so happened to be based around Hopes Peak academy's events. Not to mention, technically speaking, we are all Ultimate Students, the hero course is just a fancy way of saying: Ultimate course.” Kosei said as everyone looked at Kosei now, their eyes narrowing at him.

“No, that wasn’t what we heard about; we just know that 1-A is in this mess too. What do you mean that Yuei was called Hopes Peak Academy.” Manga said, glaring daggers at Kosei, who reclined back into his chair. “So now you’re not even gonna talk?! How are we supposed to believe you or even want to trust you if you keep saying cryptic crap like that!” Manga shouted as everyone became silent.

“Ever since your stupid character change, you’ve acted like a prick this entire time, talking in a low tone of voice and saying unnerving things like that! Kosei, for the love of God, please tell me you aren’t always like this.” Manga said, an annoyed tic in his voice as the brown-haired teen sat up straight in his chair.

“I’ve always been like this. I just never usually talk all that much because I feel insignificant compared to most others. But that’s beside the fact. Here, I can be who I want to be. I can be the scumbag I am because nothing is stopping me from doing so.” Kosei said as a shit-eating grin widened on his face. “But you don’t have to worry all that much about me; I’m not gonna kill anyone if that’s what you’re worried about. The most I’ll do is harmlessly prank someone.” The boy said as Jurota levelled a glare in his direction.

“Sir Tsuburaba, I demand to know where you got the information from,” Jurota said; however, in the back of his mind, he knew exactly where it was that he got that information from. However, he didn’t know how Kosei got his hands on that book.

“Oh, simple, you see, last night when I couldn’t sleep, I decided to go to the library. I read a book, but not just any book, the school history book, and wouldn’t you know it, Yuei used to be called Hopes Peak Academy. But not just that, the school went under a complete overhaul! It was demolished and rebuilt to what we now know as Yuei!

“However, it is still built where the old school once was! Imagine we were going to school at a place where the first-ever Killing Game took place! Can you believe that! I’m sure the original courtroom is just underneath the school!” Kosei giggled and laughed as he spoke, showing off his true self.

“What, you guys are looking at me like I’m the crazy one! Trust me; I’m just a big fan of the games, nothing too out of the ordinary, honestly.” Kosei said, returning to his normal mundane self as Ibara gulped back a small bit of anger and annoyance.

“You know what, I’m almost completely fed up with you, however… aside from your lunacy, Kosei does have a point. I’d think no less of Monokuma to stoop that low…” Ibara said as Setsuna huffed.

“And now you wonder why we haven’t even found a single escape route, it’s because nobody’s really trying! We’re all sitting here, talking and wasting precious daylight, bickering about things that, quite frankly, don’t matter; when we should be out there finding an escape route!” Setsuna shouted as Rin sighed.

“But that’s just the thing, Tokage-san.” Rin started in a calm, collected tone of voice. “We don’t have any escape routes. All the possible routes we have found are either blocked off by iron-bars or locked until we ‘progress.’ I am inclined to believe that someone has to be killed before we can continue onward. Which is something I don’t want to believe. However, with our parents being put on the line… I am fully prepared to witness a dead body… either my parents… or…” Rin froze, gritting his teeth before ultimately standing up and leaving.

“S-Shihai… C-Can we g-go now.” Kinoko muttered to the dark boy as he nodded. She held him by the arm as they walked away. Slowly but surely, people began to leave the cafeteria, only leaving Neito and Setsuna.

“I don’t want to think like that; we’ve been all such close friends, I refuse to believe that one of us will stoop to that level and kill someone….” Setsuna said before getting up, “I’ll go make some breakfast for everyone; I’ll get someone to round you guys all up at 8:30 a.m.” Setsuna stated, walking into the kitchen, free from view as Neito sighed. He looked up at the clock on the wall, which was just adjacent to a Monitor and Camera.

 _‘8:00 am, huh? I mean… 30 minutes to cook food for everyone doesn’t seem like a long time, then again, this is Setsuna we’re talking about…’_ Neito thought as he got up to go walk around, his mind drifted to what Kosei had said about the library. _‘If he found that book in the library, what else could be there? What if there was something else we just weren’t paying attention to while searching? What if there’s more stuff there for us to look for and find? Maybe a clue as to who this E person is.’_ Neito thought as he walked down the hallway, his destination, the library. 

**[Play: Beautiful Death]**

The hallways were practically empty, no one was in them, and it made Neito think about the depressing situation he and his classmates were all thrust into. _‘Does nobody trust anyone? Is everyone afraid that someone will kill the other? I have to believe what my gut tells me, and my gut is telling me that my mom and dad are in trouble… but they can’t be, right? The heroes would’ve done something by now… right?’_

He shook his head; he didn’t want to think about that right now. He didn’t want to fall into despair, not again, not like when he watched Itsuka die… he remembered what it felt like. He felt a sensation of bloodlust warp over him… he felt as if everything he loved and cared about had just died in front of him and that everyone had to pay for it. To an extent, that was true, Itsuka was the love of his life, but… she’s gone… he has to move on with his life.

But when that feeling of utter despair washed over him, when he wanted nothing more, but for everyone to pay for not trying to help her, he couldn’t think straight. It was thanks to Tetsutetsu that he got out of that funk, but now… someone else could be going through something like that right now, and he would be none the wiser.

If someone was… would he be able to help them in their time of need? “Focus, just go to the library and find if there is something about E there…” The blond muttered. As he was walking down the dilapidated building halls, he saw that Yui was standing just outside of the medical room. He arched his eyebrow at this; why was she just… standing there?

Deciding to find out for himself, Neito approached the raven-haired girl, who looked at him with narrowed eyes. “Hello, Monoma, what do you want?” The black-haired girl asked as Neito felt a chill run down his spine. She gave off a threatening aura of absolute dread; she was not to be messed with, not now, not ever.

“O-Oh, I just wanted to know w-what you w-were d-doing. You don’t just see people standing outside of doorways all that often.” Neito stammered out his first sentence but composed himself so that he didn’t seem like a weakling. He didn’t know why, but so many of his friends were showing their true colours in this academy. Only a select few didn’t, and that’s even assuming that they weren’t just their true selves all the time.

People like Nirengeki, Jurota, Pony, Hiryu, Ren, and Juzo all showed genuine and honest people. It was people like Kosei, Yui, Shihai, and to an extent, Kinoko that truly messed with him. Kinoko especially, she’s seemed to be a bit more outgoing as of late, less timid and more upfront. But that was happening even before this Killing game had even started.

“Oh, well, I’m standing guard. As you know from our meeting before last… there’s poison inside this room, and I intend on not letting a single person get their hands on said poison so long as I live in these school halls.” Yui said, her eyes lightening up a bit and her expression seeming genuine.

“That’s good… I’m glad you’re still trying to stick to being a hero to keep others safe… I feel like no one else has really tried.” Neito said as Yui shook her head in bewilderment as her cheeks turned a slight tinge of pink.

“Thanks… now, if you excuse me, I have some guarding to do, so… get lost,” Yui said, the shade of pink fading from her cheeks as Neito nodded. However, before he left, he remembered something.

“Oh, and by the way, Setsuna’s making breakfast for everyone, it’ll be ready at 8:30, she said, don’t forget,” Neito stated as Yui rolled her eyes before nodding. With that being said, the conversation ended, and Neito left to go to the library, which was conveniently only a few doors away from the medical room.

Pushing open the Library doors, Neito stepped inside as the doors closed behind him, a loud thud echoing into the room as they closed. “Jeez, that’s a bit loud, but I guess it’s because they’re heavy…” Neito muttered as he walked past the front desk and over to a shelf full of books. Each book was organized alphabetically, from A to Z, which made it easier to search for a book.

Walking down the setup, Neito continued to look for the school history book. He wanted to find out more about Yuei’s past if there was something he could learn at the very least. He wanted to confirm if what Kosei said was true or not.

Walking down the halls of the library, he eventually came across the history section of the library; within that section, he saw several books about the pre-quirked history of the world, such as World War 2, World War 1, then, he saw something that made his eyes widen.

**[Play: Distrust]**

“The Despair war? What… what is that?” Neito muttered as he took the book off of its shelf. The cover had Monokuma’s right eye plastered on it, with the book's title written underneath it. He gulped, was this something planted here to distract him? Or was it something important… he didn’t know, but if it was… then… he would need to hang onto this for a while.

“If I can learn more about what happened during the Despair war, if that even was a thing in the first place, I’ll gladly learn more about it. Until then… I think I’ll just hang onto this for now…” Neito muttered as he put the book underneath his armpit; he planned on taking it back with him to his dormitory.

 _‘Just you wait, Monokuma, once I find out more about you and this Mastermind, I’ll come for you.’_ Neito thought as he was about to leave when then, he heard someone call his name.

**[Play: Beautiful Death]**

“Monoma-kun!” The soft-toned voice of Kinoko said as she waved over to him. She was sitting with Shihai, who was also waving him over, they both had books in their hands, and they were reading something together, like a little book club of some sorts. He smiled, looking at the two before walking over.

“Hey, what’s up?” He asked in a polite and friendly tone. Kinoko regarded him with a smile, pointing at the chair to her right, pulling it out for him as well. Neito took this chance to sit as Kinoko smiled again.

“Nothing much, Kinoko wanted to start a book club or something along those lines. She roped me into it, and she’s roped you into it too, I guess.” Shihai stated as Neito stifled a chuckle.

“Yeah, I guess it’s just something to do to take our minds off of the motive. Not like I believe it, of course, because if I did, I’d probably be doing something else right now… nevermind that.” Kinoko said, a positive tone in her voice as she spoke. The way she said that thought unnerved Neito, and it also concerned Shihai.

“You aren’t thinking of doing anything, are you?” Shihai asked as Kinoko puffed out her cheeks in annoyance.

“Of course not, are you?” She retorted, making Shihai flustered, causing the mushroom girl to laugh.

“Well, regardless, I saw you about to leave with a book. What is it?” Kinoko asked the blond, who sighed.

“I think that’s best left forgotten,” Neito answered, causing Kinoko to raise an eyebrow. “Uh, don’t take it the wrong way, it’s just… I don’t even know yet, but I’ll tell you all when I understand that damn thing.” Neito quickly responded, causing Shihai to groan.

“You know, you’ve been keeping to yourself a lot lately; it’s not my place to judge but, does it have something to do with a certain ginger?” Shihai asked as Neito bit his lip in annoyance.

“touchy subject, ok, I’ll drop it, but… I’m just worried for ya, Monoma-kun. You haven’t been yourself lately, so…” Shihai said as Neito faintly sighed. He closed his eyes in thought before looking back at the two.

“Thank you for worrying about me, but… I’m fine. What I’m worried about the most is you guys…” Neito said, earning an eyebrow raise from Kinoko.

“What do you mean?” She asked, curiosity in her voice as Neito waved his hand dismissively.

“I didn’t mean you two, in particular, I meant all of our class… everyone just seems on edge and scared, when really… we shouldn’t. We’re class 1-B, we are technically still heroes in training, and therefore, we can’t let this villain win.” Neito said as Shihai smirked.

“Yeah, your right Monoma, we shouldn’t be panicked and scared…” He started, his tone of voice shaky before his face grew flat and annoyed.

**[Play: Rise of the Ultimates]**

“We should be terrified. This isn’t a game; this is real life, we’re trapped here, and we can’t leave unless we obey Monokuma, who is watching us. We can try and hold on to our peace for a while, but it won’t last. Someone will cave… and unfortunately… that’s the truth, I’ve come to accept it, you should too.” Shihai said as suddenly, Kinoko stood up.

“I-I need to g-go…” Kinoko muttered before leaving the library at a quickened pace. Shihai let out a cold sigh as he stood up.

“I’m going to see where she’s going; I’m not leaving her side until I know it’s safe; you should do the same with the one you care the most about, and don’t tell me that it isn’t someone who’s already dead, you and I both know you can protect someone else for now,” Shihai said sternly before leaving the library to follow Kinoko.

Neito was now alone, was what Shihai said correct? _‘Will someone cave in? No… I refuse to believe that. I can’t let myself believe those types of things; no one can or will hurt someone… I refuse to believe that…’_ Neito thought as he looked at the book in between his armpit. “I should put this in my room… better safe then-“

Just as Neito was about to get up, he saw Shihai walk back into the library; he looked almost… annoyed. He was mumbling to himself about something, and Neito didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Neito looked at the time. It was 8:30, _‘I guess time really does fly when you're doing something…’_ “Hey, Kuroiro-kun, everyone’s going to get food and the sort right about now, you wanna come?” Neito asked him as the titular boy shook his head.

“Alright…” Neito muttered as he left the library. He debated to himself about checking on Kinoko; however, he swiftly waved it away when the thought crossed his mind. _‘She looked disturbed; I don’t blame her, Kuroiro-kun was acting kinda weird…’_ as he thought that he walked into the cafeteria, where nearly everyone was there, aside from Shihai and Kinoko, of course.

“Excuse me, where are Komori-san and Kuroiro-kun?” Juzo asked as Neito sighed.

“Komori-san’s in her room. She's kind of freaked out about something and left the library where Kuroiro-kun and I were at, then he left and came back a few seconds later. He’s in the library. I asked him to come, but he didn’t want to.” Neito answered as Kosei smirked.

“Oh, well, would you hear that seems like Komori is acting a bit… oh, I don’t know, scared?” Kosei asked playfully, getting a groan from Reiko.

“Can you drop the act, please? It’s starting to get on everyone’s nerves.” Reiko asked, her bored and mundane expression switched out for a more annoyed one.

“What act, princess? Last I checked, I’m not acting.” Kosei said, causing Togaru to wave the brown-haired nuisance’s words away.

“Leave him be. He’s a prick to be a prick; the best we can do is straight-up ignore him,” Togaru said as Jurota cleared his throat.

**[Play: Becoming Friends]**

“Food is here; everyone dig in!” Jurota was about to say something, only to have Setsuna cut in with a cart full of breakfast foods.

The food spread was akin to that of a movie. There were several stacks of pancakes, several bowls of fruits, a plate full of over easy and sunny-side-up eggs, along with a big bowl of breakfast sausages.

“Wow, Tokage-san! That’s amazing! Thank you!” Pony said with a smile on her face.

“Here, I thought you weren’t able to cook; I guess this proves me wrong,” Yui said, her deadpanned expression now allowing a small smirk on her face.

“Thanks, Setsuna,” Reiko said with a faint smile.

“No problem, I guess this makes up for what was supposed to be a party earlier in the week. That got ruined, so I decided to make this delicious breakfast feast!” Setsuna said with a massive dorky smile on her face.

“My question is how you were able to make all of this in only 30 minutes?” Neito asked as Yosetsu half-heartedly chuckled.

“Well, I was kinda in the kitchen at the time and… well, I sorta offered by services,” Yosetsu said in an embarrassed tone of voice.

“Yeah, but you were an amazing chef! Honestly, they should’ve given you the Ultimate Chef title instead of a welder.” Setsuna said with a smile, causing Yosetsu to blush slightly in embarrassment.

“T-Thanks Tokage-san…” Yosetsu said with an embarrassed smirk on his face.

When the small talk finished, everyone began to dig into their choice of food. Everyone had enough to satisfy their own fill, leaving enough for a later time so that those who didn’t come could get their share of the food too. When everyone was done eating, it was around 9:30 a.m.

“Well, thanks for the food Tokage-san, Awase-kun, it was delicious!” Manga said in a jovial tone, causing the welder to smile.

“No problem, but Tokage-san did most of the work. I did the sausages and pancakes while she speed-ran making eggs.” Yosetsu said as Setsuna giggled.

“Yeah, I went so fast that even Monokuma was shocked, the bastard bear showed up and literally counted the number of eggs I screwed up with on a sports score screen. The bear also knows one too many egg puns.” Setsuna said, rubbing the back of her neck as Togaru groaned.

“He showed up? He didn’t do anything to sabotage the food, did he?” Togaru asked as Yosetsu shook his head.

“Nope, all he did was count the number of botched and perfected eggs; it was like a game show for him. We didn’t really mind. It came down to a score of 31 botched eggs and 32 perfected eggs.” Yosetsu said as Setsuna rolled her eyes.

“Well, that’s actually kinda cutting it close. I’d love to stay and chat, but eating like that makes me a bit sleepy; see ya guys around.” Neito said, his eyes drifting shut as he walked to his dorm room after waving goodbye to everyone.

Once he entered his dorm room, he walked to his bed and fell asleep… all until…

**[Play: Beautiful days]**

***Knock, Knock, Knock!***

Neito slowly sat up in his bed and moved over to the side. _‘I wonder who that could be?’_ Neito wondered as he got out of bed. Walking over to the door, he opened it to see Yui standing at his door. “Oh, Kodai-san, what’s the issue?” Neito asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

“Group meeting, get to the cafeteria,” Yui said, grabbing him by the arm and dragging him out of his room.

“Hey! You couldn’t give me a few minutes to wake up!” Neito semi-shouted, semi-groaned in a flabbergasted tone of voice, only to hear a giggle coming from Yui.

“You are now, aren’t you?” Yui said a smile on her face. It was strange; Yui was smiling. So far, Yui had never smiled, and up until now, that trend continued, but now, it was different. Neito was glad that she was at least trying to change, and he was glad that she was trying to make the mood less intolerable.

“I brought him! Is there anyone else that’s missing that I could go fetch?” Yui asked as Jurota hummed in silence. Neito walked up to the table as everyone stared at each other, mumbling to one another as Neito glanced at the time.

“It’s 2:00 pm? I slept for that long?” Neito mumbled as Tetsutetsu elbowed his shoulder.

“Yo, bro, it’s fine. I just had a nap too, so you ain’t the only one surprised on how long you slept for.” Tetsutetsu said, a wry smile appearing on his tired face. Neito could only respond with the same as Jurota finally answer Yui.

“I believe Kuroiro and Komori have not appeared. Can you please get them? They’re-“ Jurota stopped as Shihai entered the cafeteria, “-I guess It’s just Komori that isn’t here yet.” Jurota said as Shihai perked his eyebrow up.

“Huh? Oh, we’re having another meeting, that’s odd, Kinoko is usually always here before me…” Shihai said as Neito felt a cold chill run up his spine. For some reason, something didn’t seem right. A sense of dread came over him as he asked a certain question that changed the entire table's mood.

“Did anyone see Kinoko after I went down or…?” Neito asked as everyone looked at one another.

**[Play: Boy’s Life in Despair]**

“Afraid not…” Setsuna said worriedly.

“No, but come to think of it, I haven’t seen her since the last meeting…” Shoda muttered, his expression going from calm to serious.

“Gotta say no to that one Monoma-kun.” Pony said as she looked around the table. “Did anyone see her at all?” She asked., earning shaking heads and mumbling of “no’s” from everyone at the table.

“Then we shouldn’t start the meeting until we find her… I think we should send a small group to go looking for her; it’d take way longer if all of us go searching for her.” Yosetsu said, and everyone practically agreed with it. 

“I’ll go, Kuroiro-kun should as well, so that leaves one other person,” Neito said, taking charge of the situation. “Any volunteers?” Neito asked as Reiko stood up.

“I’ll go. I was the last one to see her; I think she was in her dorm last I checked.” Reiko said as Neito nodded.

“We’ll come back with her in no time,” Neito said as the group of three left the cafeteria. As the group walked down the hallway where the girl's dorms were, they kept looking at the doors to see which one was Kinoko’s, and eventually, they found it; only something was wrong, the door was slightly left ajar.

“Uh… that doesn’t look good, she never leaves her door open,” Shihai said, a worried expression now on his face as Neito gulped back a sense of fear and loathing. Something was wrong if what Shihai said was true. That can’t be good.

“I’ll open the door,” Reiko said, walking up to it and gently pushing it open. She looked around before clearing her throat. “Hey guys, uh… we got a problem,” Reiko said as Shihai’s eyes widened. He rushed over to the door and pushed it open, only to find that there was nothing there.

“She should be here; I saw her here last. So where could she have gone…” Reiko said as Shihai began to think.

“She liked the library; maybe she’s there?” Shihai wondered, a pit growing in all of their stomachs; this was unusual, even for Kinoko’s latest change in character, this wasn’t normal. She’d always tell Shihai where it was she was going or what she was going to do. The fact she didn’t tell him anything, especially now, worried him like crazy.

“Then we don’t have much time; she could be in danger,” Neito said as the two nodded. They continued their search over to the library, which wasn’t too far away. Once they arrived, however, the doors were closed, and Monokuma was standing in front of the room.

“Oh, hello children, what seems to be the issue?” Monokuma asked them as Shihai groaned.

“We don’t have time for this move. We’re trying to find our friend,” Shihai said as Monokuma refused to budge.

“Sorry, this place is off-limits for now; it’s been that way for an hour now, so even if she were in there, I would’ve kicked her out,” Monokuma said as Neito groaned.

“Come on, guys, she’s not gonna be here, so…”

“But if you do want a hint on where she could be, the last time I saw her on the cameras was when she entered the gymnasium. Why don’t you go check there?” Monokuma said in an evil tone of voice, which caused the rest of them to be unnerved.

“W-We should go check the gym. NOW!” Neito felt a sense of panic rise in his voice as he said that. The others felt the same as they ran off to the gymnasium. Kicking the doors open, Neito was the first one to enter the room, followed by Shihai and Reiko.

**[Stop Track]**

His heart sank… his mind froze. Only one thought echoed through his head as he stared upon what he could only consider was malice incarnate. Why? Why, was his only thought. This was a nightmare, right? This wasn’t happening; this couldn’t be happening. He trusted his friends, at least, he wanted to, but now he couldn’t

**[Play: Body Found: D]**

Blood streaked across the floor as it led up to a small pool of dark pink liquid, a pair of feet just dangling above it as they were drenched in blood. A javelin was sticking out of their chest as a look of pure fear and betrayal lay strewn on their face, their dark brown hair no longer covering their shocked expression as all life in their eyes were gone.

Kinoko Komori was murdered in cold blood, and she was pinned against the wall by a javelin sticking out of her chest and into the bleachers behind her.

- **To Be Continued-**

**|Number of people alive: 18|Daily Life – End| Deadly Life – Begin|**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A.N: I know, I know, It’s been way too long since the last chapter, a month, but please try to remember that I’m a grade 11 in high school, who is trying to multi-task several different things at once, a Job, School, another project, and this. I’m considering putting the other project on hiatus for a while to work on this, so please be patient. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and I’ll see you all later. Peace! 


End file.
